2024 NBA Offseason News

[Birdman]

Lakers have had 8 different coaches since 2011, geez!! Hopefully lakers continue to fail?GM LeBron wanted Reddick so he can tell him what plays to run & who to start

[RJ87]

Have to think OKC is trying to move away from the legal drama surrounding Giddey and Bulls looking to add young potential they could control.

I assume there's a pick involved going to OKC? Or was it a one to one swap?

Alex Caruso is a good player for OKC. I think Giddey can be a really good play when that shot develops...

Nothing about Caruso being good for them or not, I just don't see how you trade a 21yo with potential, who you picked at #6, who'll be a RFA for a 30yo Alex Caruso straight up who also has only 1 year on his contract.

It's not like Giddey has been a flop, he's been overall solid for them. So something else should be driving this trade, so I imagine a pick at least to be involved otherwise... and maybe even then.

My guess is that character concerns might have played in.  Everybody knows he slept with that 15 year old, even if it couldn't be proven.

I?m just amazed that Presti was able to get Caruso without giving up any draft compensation.

That's surprising. I have to think there could've been a Caruso bidding war. Maybe they're just really high on Giddey.

[boscel33]

Have to think OKC is trying to move away from the legal drama surrounding Giddey and Bulls looking to add young potential they could control.

I assume there's a pick involved going to OKC? Or was it a one to one swap?

Alex Caruso is a good player for OKC. I think Giddey can be a really good play when that shot develops...

Nothing about Caruso being good for them or not, I just don't see how you trade a 21yo with potential, who you picked at #6, who'll be a RFA for a 30yo Alex Caruso straight up who also has only 1 year on his contract.

It's not like Giddey has been a flop, he's been overall solid for them. So something else should be driving this trade, so I imagine a pick at least to be involved otherwise... and maybe even then.

My guess is that character concerns might have played in.  Everybody knows he slept with that 15 year old, even if it couldn't be proven.

I?m just amazed that Presti was able to get Caruso without giving up any draft compensation.

That's surprising. I have to think there could've been a Caruso bidding war. Maybe they're just really high on Giddey.

Did you mean, they were giddy for Giddey....

[boscel33]

Lakers have had 8 different coaches since 2011, geez!! Hopefully lakers continue to fail?GM LeBron wanted Reddick so he can tell him what plays to run & who to start

And only one title, the bubble one.

[SHAQATTACK]

Lakers have had 8 different coaches since 2011, geez!! Hopefully lakers continue to fail?GM LeBron wanted Reddick so he can tell him what plays to run & who to start

And only one title, the bubble one.

Lakers ?.steal bottom feeder star draft picks ..they clean out Pelicans every year when rookie contracts expire.  Fire coaches until something works ?.thats their plan every year.  How many ex coaches do they have on their payrolls ?  Hand out millions , then pay em to go away. That?s moronic management ??.its the moron Jeanie Buss era of control.

Their fan base won?t tolerate a drafting process ?.Lakers front office is conquer, divide , steal rape and pillaging small franchise teams .  It?s their plan every year.  They don?t keep coaches long enough to build a real team. 

They HATE Boston because they aren?t able to steal every star that comes along .

I d like to see Lakers franchise go bankrupt. 

[BudweiserCeltic]

Have to think OKC is trying to move away from the legal drama surrounding Giddey and Bulls looking to add young potential they could control.

I assume there's a pick involved going to OKC? Or was it a one to one swap?

Alex Caruso is a good player for OKC. I think Giddey can be a really good play when that shot develops...

Nothing about Caruso being good for them or not, I just don't see how you trade a 21yo with potential, who you picked at #6, who'll be a RFA for a 30yo Alex Caruso straight up who also has only 1 year on his contract.

It's not like Giddey has been a flop, he's been overall solid for them. So something else should be driving this trade, so I imagine a pick at least to be involved otherwise... and maybe even then.

My guess is that character concerns might have played in.  Everybody knows he slept with that 15 year old, even if it couldn't be proven.

For sure, was driving the point that something else was the motor for this trade and it wasn't because Caruso is better or a better fit or any of that, otherwise from a pure basketball and front office perspective a one to one trade between these 2 players makes little sense from OKC's perspective.

[Phantom255x]

The Bulls apparently had turned down a Caruso trade offer before at the deadline which had included a Top-10 pick in 2024. This was because the Bulls FO was hell bent on making the playoffs, though they lost the play-in. And now they trade him away for Giddey and no picks. Lol.

[bdm860]

I look forward to the JJ Redick post game press conferences next year.

He's fine and personable on podcasts when he's having more lighthearted convos with people (especially people he considers on his level, i.e. other players).

But he's definitely more of a smarmy prick in the ESPN round table type discussions when someone has a different take than him (though to be fair, most of the people he's debating with there are idiots, but it's not that he disagrees with them, it's the know-it-all, I'm-smarter-than-you, you're-beneath-me way he responds).

I think it will be highly entertaining when the Lakers are losing and some reporter questions one of JJ's decisions (or lack thereof).

[keevsnick]

Have to think OKC is trying to move away from the legal drama surrounding Giddey and Bulls looking to add young potential they could control.

I assume there's a pick involved going to OKC? Or was it a one to one swap?

Alex Caruso is a good player for OKC. I think Giddey can be a really good play when that shot develops...

Nothing about Caruso being good for them or not, I just don't see how you trade a 21yo with potential, who you picked at #6, who'll be a RFA for a 30yo Alex Caruso straight up who also has only 1 year on his contract.

It's not like Giddey has been a flop, he's been overall solid for them. So something else should be driving this trade, so I imagine a pick at least to be involved otherwise... and maybe even then.

Giddey just isn't really god at the things you need to be good at to win.

He can dribble and pass, but he can't shoot or finish at the rim which severely limits is offensive contributions. He doesn't really put any pressure on a defense, doesn't generate any advantages.

On defense he's not awful, but he plays much smaller than his size.

Its just hard to say what exactly he does to help to a team actually win.

[Moranis]

Have to think OKC is trying to move away from the legal drama surrounding Giddey and Bulls looking to add young potential they could control.

I assume there's a pick involved going to OKC? Or was it a one to one swap?

Alex Caruso is a good player for OKC. I think Giddey can be a really good play when that shot develops...

Nothing about Caruso being good for them or not, I just don't see how you trade a 21yo with potential, who you picked at #6, who'll be a RFA for a 30yo Alex Caruso straight up who also has only 1 year on his contract.

It's not like Giddey has been a flop, he's been overall solid for them. So something else should be driving this trade, so I imagine a pick at least to be involved otherwise... and maybe even then.

Giddey just isn't really god at the things you need to be good at to win.

He can dribble and pass, but he can't shoot or finish at the rim which severely limits is offensive contributions. He doesn't really put any pressure on a defense, doesn't generate any advantages.

On defense he's not awful, but he plays much smaller than his size.

Its just hard to say what exactly he does to help to a team actually win.

Giddey is a weird player be ause he did hit 2 point shots at 53% last year, but also wasn't bad at the rim hitting only 67% if his shots inside 3 feet.  He actually was pretty good in the mid range area though.

He rebounds and passes pretty well and he hit his FT's, so there are definitely skills there.  May just not have been a great spot for him.  Perhaps the Bulls unlock him and he reaches his potential. He is still just 21 after all.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Have to think OKC is trying to move away from the legal drama surrounding Giddey and Bulls looking to add young potential they could control.

I assume there's a pick involved going to OKC? Or was it a one to one swap?

Alex Caruso is a good player for OKC. I think Giddey can be a really good play when that shot develops...

Nothing about Caruso being good for them or not, I just don't see how you trade a 21yo with potential, who you picked at #6, who'll be a RFA for a 30yo Alex Caruso straight up who also has only 1 year on his contract.

It's not like Giddey has been a flop, he's been overall solid for them. So something else should be driving this trade, so I imagine a pick at least to be involved otherwise... and maybe even then.

Giddey just isn't really god at the things you need to be good at to win.

He can dribble and pass, but he can't shoot or finish at the rim which severely limits is offensive contributions. He doesn't really put any pressure on a defense, doesn't generate any advantages.

On defense he's not awful, but he plays much smaller than his size.

Its just hard to say what exactly he does to help to a team actually win.

I wouldn't write-off a 21yo who is fairly efficient with the ball. Again, you don't trade that type of player for a 1yr rental of 30yo Caruso. Someone, despite your assertions, was a contributor in helping the 2nd youngest team in the NBA to achieve the 2nd best record in the league. That's nothing to sniff at, to say nothing that having a player like that as a RFA is valuable.

You're not wrong on a lot of what you're saying here, as a lot of that was shown in the Dallas series, but it lacks perspective of youth and contract situation. If he were a non-contributor who's playing bad basketball it would be one thing, but he's been solid player on an incredibly young team who went to the 2nd round of the playoffs and he had a part in that. Not a huge part, but good throughout most of year.

So this trade screams that it's more of off the court reasons, than basketball or front office cap related reasons.

[tazzmaniac]

I don't know how much of a get Paul George is at this point. He is very good but not great. He will cost a ton of money. I wonder if a team like Philly is not better off going after 2-3 quality role players instead of a 3rd star like PG13.

Philly already run a two-man offense. There is not a lot of touches / shots for the 3rd star. They refused to involved either Tobias Harris or Buddy Hield in the playoffs. Both of whom are 17-20ppg capable scorers.

Feels to me Philly are better off letting their two stars being high usage offensive engines and letting the rest of the team being high end glue guys rather than pursuing a 3rd star in PG13.

The Sixers need to figure out how to be competitive when Embiid is off court.  Over the 6-game Knick series, Embiid averaged 41.4 minutes on court and 7.5 minutes off court with a team +/- of +7.7 and -7.8 respectively.  So the Sixers were falling behind by more than a point per minute when Embiid was offcourt.  When he was oncourt, their offrtg was 124.1 and defrtg was 114.8 for +9.3 netrtg.  When he was offcourt, their offrtg was 72.8 and defrtg was 125.3 for a whopping -52.4 netrtg.  Their efg% and ts% dropped from 56.3 and 61.3 to 33.9 and 37.0.  That was against the Knicks.  Imagine how bad it would have been against the Celts.

I like Maxey but unless he makes the leap to a top 10 player, the Sixers need a 3rd star.  I agree I wouldn't go with PG13 especially at the money it would take. 

[tazzmaniac]

Have to think OKC is trying to move away from the legal drama surrounding Giddey and Bulls looking to add young potential they could control.

I assume there's a pick involved going to OKC? Or was it a one to one swap?

Alex Caruso is a good player for OKC. I think Giddey can be a really good play when that shot develops...

Nothing about Caruso being good for them or not, I just don't see how you trade a 21yo with potential, who you picked at #6, who'll be a RFA for a 30yo Alex Caruso straight up who also has only 1 year on his contract.

It's not like Giddey has been a flop, he's been overall solid for them. So something else should be driving this trade, so I imagine a pick at least to be involved otherwise... and maybe even then.

Giddey just isn't really god at the things you need to be good at to win.

He can dribble and pass, but he can't shoot or finish at the rim which severely limits is offensive contributions. He doesn't really put any pressure on a defense, doesn't generate any advantages.

On defense he's not awful, but he plays much smaller than his size.

Its just hard to say what exactly he does to help to a team actually win.

I wouldn't write-off a 21yo who is fairly efficient with the ball. Again, you don't trade that type of player for a 1yr rental of 30yo Caruso. Someone, despite your assertions, was a contributor in helping the 2nd youngest team in the NBA to achieve the 2nd best record in the league. That's nothing to sniff at, to say nothing that having a player like that as a RFA is valuable.

You're not wrong on a lot of what you're saying here, as a lot of that was shown in the Dallas series, but it lacks perspective of youth and contract situation. If he were a non-contributor who's playing bad basketball it would be one thing, but he's been solid player on an incredibly young team who went to the 2nd round of the playoffs and he had a part in that. Not a huge part, but good throughout most of year.

So this trade screams that it's more of off the court reasons, than basketball or front office cap related reasons.

Per Athletic article:

Presti said the team determined that Giddey coming off the bench next season would be its best option, but that moving out of the starting lineup was hard for Giddey to envision. That led to Oklahoma City exploring trade opportunities.

As always was the case, Josh demonstrated the utmost professionalism throughout the discussions, Presti said in a statement. Josh has All-Star potential, but accessing that in the current construct of the Thunder would not be optimal for the collective. Based on these discussions we decided to move forward and prioritize what was best for the organization.

Definitely don't want to keep around a player who is not going to be happy in their role if you're trying to be a championship contender.  I expect that there already were conversations about the next contract with Caruso so 1 year rental is unlikely. 

[Redz]

Is Lebron opting out in L.A. a non-story? Sounds like he's just shuffling some money/years around and will stay in L.A., but what if someone offers him a bajillion dollars in a good setting? 

[Phantom255x]

Is Lebron opting out in L.A. a non-story? Sounds like he's just shuffling some money/years around and will stay in L.A., but what if someone offers him a bajillion dollars in a good setting?

Lebron's gonna get paid wherever. He's gonna stay in LA. But what I am curious to see is if he signs one of those "1+1" deals or another long term extension. If the latter, it might be a sign he'll stay in LA until he retires for good. If not, then it might open the door that he leaves LA after this season if they don't do much better than a play-in and first round series win.

I think the Reddick hire was also done to appease Lebron. Sorry but I don't buy that he is "not involved", he is absolutely involved with a lot of these front office decisions. If it doesn't work out including with Reddick, that might be all for the Lakers. They still have AD but he's not an alpha.