NBA free agency/LeBronapalooza 2018

[jordville]

 

[jordville]

It'll be interesting if he "passes" his physical. That is no slam dunk.

 

[MikeSU02]

I actually like this trade for both sides. Pretty sure Maasai is taking a home run cut before rebuild.

 

[MikeSU02]

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I would watch the Hell out of a movie with Daniel Day Lewis method acting a highschool loser.

 

[jncuse]

Outstanding deal for the Raptors.

1) Kawhi is hest player

2) As much as Demar Derozan has contributed to the regular season success, he has been terrible in the playoffs. Kawhi Leonard is a good playoff performer. There has never been a star that I have been frustrated with as Demar.

3) Even if Kawhi leaves, the Raptors window is the next 2 years. Every big contract on the team except Norman Powell's 10m deal ended at the end of the 2019/2020 season -- Lowry, Valanciunas, Derozan, Ibaka, Van Vleet, Miles,

They will move into 2020/2021 with young cheap rotation level players in the following and about $70M in Cap Space;
Siakem
Van Vleet or Wright
OG Anunoby
Norman Powell

Leaves them open to try FA in that offseason or rebuild.

 

[chugg21]

I actually like this trade for both sides. Pretty sure Maasai is taking a home run cut before rebuild.

It's kind of perfect. Has 1 year to sell Kawhi on Toronto and can build around him. If he leaves then you have 1 year of Lowry/Ibaka deals left to sit through or try to get out of and then can completely start from scratch.

 

[Arangeman]

It's kind of perfect. Has 1 year to sell Kawhi on Toronto and can build around him. If he leaves then you have 1 year of Lowry/Ibaka deals left to sit through or try to get out of and then can completely start from scratch.

They wanted out of the Derozan contract. Spurs “stuck” with it but gives Pop something to work with and stay competitive.

While I think the Spurs should just blow it up, that is hard to do with Pop there and maybe that deal for youth and picks never materialized.

 

[Knicks411]

I really like this move for Toronto (obviously, right?)

How often do all stars get traded for one another? I was thinking of Iverson/Chauncey, and Kidd/Marbury.

 

[Knicks411]

It'll be interesting if he "passes" his physical. That is no slam dunk.

Yeah I was wondering about that. I guess the Toronto doctors will have their say, but he could probably find a doctor to say he's not healthy if he really doesnt want to play

 

[Alsacs]

Raptors won this trade big time.
DeRozen is a B+ player.
Kawhi is an A player.
If Kawhi actually gives them an effort and plays they won.
San Antonio will be competitive next year but I see them in the lottery in an improved West.

 

[OrangeDW]

They got better and the East needs that.
I still don’t get Philly making Fultz untouchable and not getting Leonard.
He makes them better than Boston.
I wouldn’t expect Toronto to win the East with Leonard next year. They are better though.
Will be interesting to see if Leonard misses the USA camp now and misses games next year. He is really socially awkward.
Boston had Kyrie/Hayward/Horford/Brown/Tatum off the table.
Philly had Simmons/Embiid/Fultz off the table.

Fultz is a stud, IMO. Very quick but smooth at the same time, big and strong...I think he’s a star in the making.

 

[Arangeman]

Lakers probably win this trade. They didn’t blink and have a real good chance at getting Kawhi and giving up nothing.

 

[Alsacs]

Fultz is a stud, IMO. Very quick but smooth at the same time, big and strong...I think he’s a star in the making.

He was a DNP-CD in the playoffs.
Ainge passed on him. I didn’t agree with but I think he was right.
Fultz still hasn’t shown his shoulder is healthy and can show his old shooting form.
He changed his shooting motion and it was awful.
I wouldn’t call him a stud until he shows he is healthy.

 

[MikeSU02]

Raptors won this trade big time.
DeRozen is a B+ player.
Kawhi is an A player.
If Kawhi actually gives them an effort and plays they won.
San Antonio will be competitive next year but I see them in the lottery in an improved West.

I disagree.

This is a last hurrah homerun cut for Toronto before Maasai gets his rebuild which he wants. They’ll definitely be fun next year but then Kawhi is gone.

Spurs got a legitimate all star in return that is under contract when everyone said they had no leverage and they dumped Danny’s contract. Danny hasn’t been good in 1.5 years.

Spurs should still be bottom half of the West playoff teams.

 

[OrangeDW]

He was a DNP-CD in the playoffs.
Ainge passed on him. I didn’t agree with but I think he was right.
Fultz still hasn’t shown his shoulder is healthy and can show his old shooting form.
He changed his shooting motion and it was awful.
I wouldn’t call him a stud until he shows he is healthy.

All true, and I still think he’s a stud. Kid is 19 and was hurt. He’ll be fine IMO. Excited to watch him this coming season.

 

[Arangeman]

I disagree.

This is a last hurrah homerun cut for Toronto before Maasai gets his rebuild which he wants. They’ll definitely be fun next year but then Kawhi is gone.

Spurs got a legitimate all star in return that is under contract when everyone said they had no leverage and they dumped Danny’s contract. Danny hasn’t been good in 1.5 years.

Spurs should still be bottom half of the West playoff teams.

Is Derozan still an all-star in the West?

 

[Alsacs]

I disagree.

This is a last hurrah homerun cut for Toronto before Maasai gets his rebuild which he wants. They’ll definitely be fun next year but then Kawhi is gone.

Spurs got a legitimate all star in return that is under contract when everyone said they had no leverage and they dumped Danny’s contract. Danny hasn’t been good in 1.5 years.

Spurs should still be bottom half of the West playoff teams.

Toronto got the better player and Danny Green can shoot the 3.
Green’s contract isn’t bad it’s only one more year.
They weren’t winning squat with DeRozen and Lowry.
They got the best player and didn’t grit their team.
Poeti is a guy Pop will use well no doubt but the West has gotten better.
Lakers and Nuggets are moving up.
Spurs are the odds on favorite of the 8 West playoff teams from last year to fall out.

 

[longislandcuse]

Great move by Toronto. They weren't winning anything this year with their current squad and were going to quickly fall behind Boston/Philly, possibly NY after next year. Swing for the fences, hope you can pull a Paul George with Kawhi and if not, he bolts, and you rebuild which would have been needed anyway.

 

[Alsacs]

Is Derozan still an all-star in the West?

If it’s 24 players 12 from each conference nope.
West
LeBron James
Steph Curry
James Harden
Kevin Durant
Russell Westbrook
Klay Thompson
Damian Lillard
Paul George
Karl Anthony-Towns
Jimmy Butler
Anthony Davis
Chris Paul

All are better and I haven’t even gone into guys like Jokic/Booker/McCollum/Mitchell

 

[Arangeman]

If it’s 24 players 12 from each conference nope.
West
LeBron James
Steph Curry
James Harden
Kevin Durant
Russell Westbrook
Klay Thompson
Damian Lillard
Paul George
Karl Anthony-Towns
Jimmy Butler
Anthony Davis
Chris Paul

All are better and I haven’t even gone into guys like Jokic/Booker/McCollum/Mitchell

Lamarcus, Draymond...

 

[chugg21]

Raptors won this trade big time.
DeRozen is a B+ player.
Kawhi is an A player.
If Kawhi actually gives them an effort and plays they won.
San Antonio will be competitive next year but I see them in the lottery in an improved West.

That might be a bit of stretch. They have to make the ECF minimum for this to be a win if Kawhi bounces after this year. They'll be completely irrelevant at that point and starting a rebuild minus Poeltl who has looked nice and no 1st rounder this year. Its absolutely worth a shot but winning big time on a probably 1 year rental of a player is probably not a term that most would use given that the downside that is fairly probable in a year is tremendous.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

If it’s 24 players 12 from each conference nope.
West
LeBron James
Steph Curry
James Harden
Kevin Durant
Russell Westbrook
Klay Thompson
Damian Lillard
Paul George
Karl Anthony-Towns
Jimmy Butler
Anthony Davis
Chris Paul

All are better and I haven’t even gone into guys like Jokic/Booker/McCollum/Mitchell

Lamarcus, Draymond...

Gobert hasn't made an all-star game yet, but has been All-NBA, FWIW too.

 

[chugg21]

Lakers probably win this trade. They didn’t blink and have a real good chance at getting Kawhi and giving up nothing.

It really does help them a lot that he went to a place that he is not happy about. Could backfire like PG did and Kawhi could end up loving Toronto. East is obviously a great conference to be in and the city is an absolutely tremendous place to live and a huge upgrade over San Antonio if that ends up factoring into his thinking.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Lakers probably win this trade. They didn’t blink and have a real good chance at getting Kawhi and giving up nothing.

Don't write off Kawhi to the Knicks next year. There's been a lot of chatter about that recently. He did spend most of last year in New York when he was rehabbing.