NBA Season 2024-25

[Phantom255x]

Lakers trade D?Lo and 3 future seconds for DFS and Milton from the Nets

https://x.com/ShamsCharania/status/1873416860160659813?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet&mx=2

BREAKING: The Los Angeles Lakers have agreed on a trade sending D?Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton, sources told ESPN.

[SparzWizard]

Lakers trade D?Lo and 3 future seconds for DFS and Milton from the Nets

https://x.com/ShamsCharania/status/1873416860160659813?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet&mx=2

BREAKING: The Los Angeles Lakers have agreed on a trade sending D?Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton, sources told ESPN.

Lol D'Lo back to the Nets

[Who]

I am surprised nobody gave up a first for DFS.

Perfect for a team like Sacramento as well. Their version of Aaron Gordon to D Sabonis as A Gordon is to Jokic.

A reunion with Dallas would have been a great fit. Stop them being so reliant on PJ Washington. Two big 3&D forwards plus Naji as a smaller wing. Strong defensive 2-3-4 nucleus around Luka & Kyrie.

DFS would have been great for Miami. Finally a big forward to help out Bam & Jimmy Butler. Something they have been crying out for for many years now. He would have started there. Lifted them back into 50 win caliber team territory.

[Who]

The acquisition of D'Angelo Russell appears to create the exact same problem for Brooklyn that they just solved by dumping Dennis Schroder. They were winning too many games.

D Russell will be a very good fit in Brooklyn because they are desperate for creation (desperate for both shot creation & playmaking) so D Russell will be able to monopolize the ball to his hearts content. He is good in that role. His problem is fitting into a smaller role that he has to have on a title contender because his efficiency & consistency are too mediocre to be a prime option on a title team. But on a crap team like Brooklyn, hey ... just like last time round when he was an All-Star candidate and earned himself a max or near max contract.

D Russell can keep Brooklyn out of the top half of the lottery. They will be winning too much. Just like they were with Schoder.

[Who]

I am trying to decide how much LAL need a guy like DFS. I thought their forward rotation was solid but my memory is faulty.

There is little quality there on the bench after LeBron & Hachimura as starters. I don't trust Reddish. Vanderbilt is always injure and only a one-way player. Knecht gives them an offensive SF but not a big forward who can help defensively ... and Knecht will likely be playing more guard minutes now anyway. So there is a need for DFS.

LAL's guard rotation was already a shambles with D'Angelo Russell in the team. Now they have no creative PG. Their best creative guard / only creative guard is now Austin Reaves. Gabe Vincent gives them a defensive guard. Max Christie a defensive guard. Bronny James next in line as a defensive guard. That is the weakest guard rotation maybe in the league but certainly among playoff caliber teams. Knecht will play more guard due to the lack of talent in the backcourt so big lineups on the perimeter with LeBron as the PG.

LAL still look a long way from being a title contender.

G: A Reaves, Gabe Vincent
G: D Knecht, Max Christie
F: LeBron, Reddish
F: Hachimura, DFS
C: A Davis, Jaxson Hayes

Not sure whether DFS starts or comes off the bench. They could swap those PF roles either way. Maybe DFS makes more sense as a starter considering the other 4 guys are offensive players and then Hachimura can be their bench scorer ... because seriously, look at those other bench players, where is a bucket coming from??

Edit: Oh, they got Shake Milton as well. Forgot about him. He could play on this Lakers team. He will move ahead of Bronny and J Hood Schifino as LA's previous 3rd string options. Milton might move into the rotation if they need more scoring.

[Who]

Jamal Murray had a rough start to the season. He has picked up lately with 22ppg 47.4% FG% 43.4% 3PT% in 10 games in December.

Hopefully he is turning a corner. I would hate to see him washed up halfway through his career due to injuries. That was the worry with him earlier this season.

Denver need him to be a star to have any hopes of winning a 2nd title with Jokic over the next few years.

[Phantom255x]

Cavaliers next 5 are @GSW, @LAL, @DAL, CHA, OKC.

Charlotte is an easy win but I mean... surely 1 or 2 of those teams can beat CLE right? They also play IND in a home-and-home set and then OKC-MIN-HOU-PHO-PHI later in the month. Not easy.

[SparzWizard]

Cavaliers next 5 are @GSW, @LAL, @DAL, CHA, OKC.

Charlotte is an easy win but I mean... surely 1 or 2 of those teams can beat CLE right? They also play IND in a home-and-home set and then OKC-MIN-HOU-PHO-PHI later in the month. Not easy.

Cavs will go 5-0 in the next 5, knowing them lol

[Phantom255x]

Cavaliers next 5 are @GSW, @LAL, @DAL, CHA, OKC.

Charlotte is an easy win but I mean... surely 1 or 2 of those teams can beat CLE right? They also play IND in a home-and-home set and then OKC-MIN-HOU-PHO-PHI later in the month. Not easy.

Cavs will go 5-0 in the next 5, knowing them lol

Yeah, really feels like they could surpass our win total of last year too. Unreal.

[Who]

73% of NBA players are currently ineligible or are on pace to be ineligible for the league's postseason awards, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN.

Players must play a minimum of 65 games to be eligible for postseason awards.

This is crazy. So the availability for awards is only going to be 27% of the league?

We are going to start seeing some really odd choices especially for that 3rd Team All-NBA. Guys who would never otherwise get the nod for it getting onto the those teams. Top 30 players getting All NBA 3rd team instead of top 15 players.

[Phantom255x]

73% of NBA players are currently ineligible or are on pace to be ineligible for the league's postseason awards, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN.

Players must play a minimum of 65 games to be eligible for postseason awards.

This is crazy. So the availability for awards is only going to be 27% of the league?

We are going to start seeing some really odd choices especially for that 3rd Team All-NBA. Guys who would never otherwise get the nod for it getting onto the those teams. Top 30 players getting All NBA 3rd team instead of top 15 players.

I felt 65 games was a little too harsh to begin with. It should be at least 58-60.

I know they want to limit load management but honestly, I don't think it's really making much of a difference. Some teams and players are still prioritizing health in the Spring as opposed to awards, especially if players have already won something in the past.

Also, even if some guy is usually healthy, if he suffers a freak injury like a fracture and has to miss 1 to 1.5 months because of it but otherwise plays every other game, doesn't matter. He's ineligible.

[Redz]

I have not watched OKC much, but it sure seems Hartenstein has been a really good fit for them.  He?s putting up career numbers across the board.  Really solid signing. 

[Phantom255x]

I have not watched OKC much, but it sure seems Hartenstein has been a really good fit for them.  He?s putting up career numbers across the board.  Really solid signing.

Him and Caruso were awesome, underrated additions and really filled out the puzzle pieces on their roster. They are definitely a more complete team now with good balance and now their frontcourt is also solid with Chet and Hartenstein. Before it was Chet and then some subpar backups and they sometimes got killed on the boards and inside since Chet was relied upon a ton.

Caruso improves their defense, and he's also a much better fit for them than Giddey was in recent years.

[Goldstar88]

Fining a player $100K for swearing during a postgame interview seems a bit excessive. It?s not even like he swore at someone, just swore in general when talking about his game winning shot.

Kurt Helin: Anthony Edwards was fined $100,000 by the NBA for cursing during a televised interview. Again. Edwards has been fined $200K over the past few weeks for his postgame interviews. nbcsports.com/nba/news/antho? ? via Twitter basketballtalk

[Goldstar88]

6 people were ejected from the Heat/Rockets game after a fight broke out. Green, Thompson, Herro, Rozier, coaches Ime Udoka and Ben Sullivan.