NBA Thread 2022-23 Season

[IthacaBarrel]

LBJ in the Top 10 is interesting - I agree ( I think) but for the first time ever I can see him being left outside or close to it. Luca, Giannis, Tatum, Joker, Embid, KD, Steph - Booker and Butler close and if Zion is healthy and Leonard is Leonard or Morant tries to defend or AD stays healthy...

Crazy that it's 2 decades in and he is still in that conversation.

I am not a Lebron fan but he is still playing at an extremely high level. He was probably in the MVP conversation prior to getting hurt last year. He's just a freak of nature or as they love to say now 1 of 1

Could you imagine if they lose their lottery pick and the Pels wind up in the top 2?

 

[IthacaBarrel]

LBJ in the Top 10 is interesting - I agree ( I think) but for the first time ever I can see him being left outside or close to it. Luca, Giannis, Tatum, Joker, Embid, KD, Steph - Booker and Butler close and if Zion is healthy and Leonard is Leonard or Morant tries to defend or AD stays healthy...

Crazy that it's 2 decades in and he is still in that conversation.

Yeah it can be debated but I still think he's top 10 for sure, IMO

 

[CuseFaninVT]

I am not a Lebron but he is still playing at an extremely high level. He was probably in the MVP conversation prior to getting hurt last year. He's just a freak of nature or as they love to say now 1 of 1

Could you imagine if they lose their lottery pick and the Pels wind up in the top 2?

No, you sir are clearly not a LeBron.

 

[Day2]

yeah really weird!! If it wasn't for the bubble championship which appears that the Lakers have destroyed their future to obtain, Ms Buss has been a complete disaster since taking over. LeBron wanting to go there was a blessing and a curse because everyone makes the move and the trade for AD as well but too many cooks in the kitchen.

She runs the organization like a thrift store. Her dad was never one of the wealthiest owners in the league. In fact, he was the opposite. He was willing to lose money to win titles. His kids are not.

View the team in that light and everything makes sense.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

She runs the organization like a thrift store. Her dad was never one of the wealthiest owners in the league. In fact, he was the opposite. He was willing to lose money to win titles. His kids are not.

View the team in that light and everything makes sense.

She and Pelinka made the big deals to win one championship in the bubble and now she has seen where it has left her. Now answering and listening to countless people in her ear on the payroll who should not be but NOW players on the team as well in AD and most importantly LeBron. Careful what you wish for. She's trapped and the two draft picks in 27/29 are the only two pieces she has left before she completely just mails it in for what would most likely be a 1st round playoff exit. Would love to see her just blow the whole thing up after this year but why the did she extend Pelinka? Go hire a VP of operations and good GM and let them run it.


This is why Grif just left Cleveland and went to NOLA after a few years. he said it himself wanted to build a real team organically and not just answer to LeBron. Also look at what Cleveland and Memphis have built now. It's really the only way a small market team can compete is do it via the draft and smart trades. They aren't getting free agents

 

[Knicks411]

The thing about the Lakers and the AD trade and paying for it now or whatever is really; what if they just hadn't done the ridiculous Westbrook trade and had done the Hield one instead? You might still have Hield, KCP, and Alex Caruso on the roster instead. I'm not saying that makes you the best team in the west or anything, but thats a pretty good team right?

 

[jncuse]

The thing about the Lakers and the AD trade and paying for it now or whatever is really; what if they just hadn't done the ridiculous Westbrook trade and had done the Hield one instead? You might still have Hield, KCP, and Alex Caruso on the roster instead. I'm not saying that makes you the best team in the west or anything, but thats a pretty good team right?

This year that's a play-in team in the west... better than losing a lotto pick though.
The Westbrook trade was a headscratcher.

 

[Melancer46]

The thing about the Lakers and the AD trade and paying for it now or whatever is really; what if they just hadn't done the ridiculous Westbrook trade and had done the Hield one instead? You might still have Hield, KCP, and Alex Caruso on the roster instead. I'm not saying that makes you the best team in the west or anything, but thats a pretty good team right?

Hell, they could have just not made a trade at all and been significantly better than they are now. If you simply swapped Westbrook out for Kuzma or KCP, they'd be better than they are now, much less keeping both of them (and doing whatever with Harrell).

I understand they wanted to take some of the offensive creation burden off Lebron's back, but you can find guys capable of doing that without being maybe the worst fit in the league next to Lebron.

 

[Day2]

She and Pelinka made the big deals to win one championship in the bubble and now she has seen where it has left her. Now answering and listening to countless people in her ear on the payroll who should not be but NOW players on the team as well in AD and most importantly LeBron. Careful what you wish for. She's trapped and the two draft picks in 27/29 are the only two pieces she has left before she completely just mails it in for what would most likely be a 1st round playoff exit. Would love to see her just blow the whole thing up after this year but why the did she extend Pelinka? Go hire a VP of operations and good GM and let them run it.


This is why Grif just left Cleveland and went to NOLA after a few years. he said it himself wanted to build a real team organically and not just answer to LeBron. Also look at what Cleveland and Memphis have built now. It's really the only way a small market team can compete is do it via the draft and smart trades. They aren't getting free agents

I read recently that that Grizz owner is the second wealthiest after Ballmer.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Great to see Dame ball out last night. I thought coming into this season that he may be washed after the rough beginning of his season last year before he was injured.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I read recently that that Grizz owner is the second wealthiest after Ballmer.

Yet one of the “poorest” owners in the league in Joe Lacob/Peter Guber are getting ridiculed for excessive spending by their wealthier peers.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Philly, favored by 13 1/2, loses by 9 to San Antonio to start season 0-3.

 

[OrangeDW]

 

[MSOrange]

Hope Jayson Tatum saves some for when it really counts this season.

 

[MSOrange]

Keegan Murray with 19 points in his debut. He'll be rookie of the year. Take that to the bank.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Keegan Murray with 19 points in his debut. He'll be rookie of the year. Take that to the bank.

Keegan "Michael Key" Murray

 

[samspann1]

 

[shandeezy7]

 

[Cusefan0307]

That would be awesome.

 

[Day2]

That would be awesome.

Agreed. I just can’t see enough owners getting on board.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Really stupid idea that solves the wrong problem.

The problem is that right now franchises try to game a lottery on drafts of varying quality, instead of having incentives to develop the best players and team possible.

You want to fix this, give the play-in teams and the next closest team to qualifying for the play-in in each conference the best lottery odds.

Then give the 2 teams with the worst record in the conference a sandwich pick each between the 1st and 2nd round, on order of record finish, with the worst team getting the first sandwich pick, and so on.

This gives incentives to teams to compete that aren't necessarily championship contenders, and grants an additional asset for the truly bad teams to either develop a player or use in trades.

I'd also be in favor of allowing teams that missed the playoffs the option to carry a third 2 way player at the start of the season.

Put it on the franchises to build instead of rely on dice rolls to get a great player through a messed up set of incentives and lotto odds.

TL;DR - reward the right the things and the problems are fixed, no need to talk relegation garbage

 

[Cusefan0307]

Really stupid idea that solves the wrong problem.

The problem is that right now franchises try to game a lottery on drafts of varying quality, instead of having incentives to develop the best players and team possible.

You want to fix this, give the play-in teams and the next closest team to qualifying for the play-in in each conference the best lottery odds.

Then give the 2 teams with the worst record in the conference a sandwich pick each between the 1st and 2nd round, on order of record finish, with the worst team getting the first sandwich pick, and so on.

This gives incentives to teams to compete that aren't necessarily championship contenders, and grants an additional asset for the truly bad teams to either develop a player or use in trades.

I'd also be in favor of allowing teams that missed the playoffs the option to carry a third 2 way player at the start of the season.

Put it on the franchises to build instead of rely on dice rolls to get a great player through a messed up set of incentives and lotto odds.

TL;DR - reward the right the things and the problems are fixed, no need to talk relegation garbage

I think it would be great. We would currently be having a discussion about the Lakers possibly being relegated next season.

 

[NashvilleOrange]

Relegation with the g league would work better if the franchises weren't suburban feeders to the NBA franchises. E.g. Santa Cruz to the warriors, El Segundo to the Lakers, Westchester to the Knicks, Mississauga to the raptors etc. Most of those teams would struggle to draw a good crowd and don't really have their own franchise identity.

 

[Day2]

Relegation with the g league would work better if the franchises weren't suburban feeders to the NBA franchises. E.g. Santa Cruz to the warriors, El Segundo to the Lakers, Westchester to the Knicks, Mississauga to the raptors etc. Most of those teams would struggle to draw a good crowd and don't really have their own franchise identity.

It would take at least a decade to work through all of the logistical issues before you could implement relegation.

For example, what if OKC get relegated? What becomes of all the draft picks they’ve been hoarding?

I still like the idea.

 

[Cusefan0307]

It would take at least a decade to work through all of the logistical issues before you could implement relegation.

For example, what if OKC get relegated? What becomes of all the draft picks they’ve been hoarding?

I still like the idea.

They should go to the team that replaced them from the G league. Give those teams a chance to be good. They will have a hard time being attractive to Free Agents.