General NBA Discussion

[Sweet Rabbit]

That mascot is awful looking

 

[azurepred]

looks like a community college mascot at best.

 

[The Josh]

Ugly win but I'll take it. Nice to see Rose win it at the buzzer.

 

[Shatterer of Dreams]

that's fine by me, I will get my kicks and giggles watching LA lose either way, whether be a 1st rd sweep or not making it at all. Does it really matter which way? . You act like it's a big deal that I was wrong or something.

Nope just saying you were wrong. It's pretty simple really.

 

[Shatterer of Dreams]

I think the Lakers playoff chances rest a bit more on what the other teams do ( or more to point, don't do) than what the Lakers end up doing.

Like I said in the offseason, the biggest issue I see for this squad isn't so much age and the loss of Bryant, those things are going to hurt them, it's that they don't have anyone who can legitimately protect the rim.

I wouldn't classify David Lee as a banger or enforcer, but the Lakers didn't really have anyone IMHO who could match up with him. Gasol is really a great player, all around, esp for his age. Probably still one of the best passing big men in the game. Variety of ways he can hurt you on offense, full arsenal to kill you up close or at range. But he needs to be complemented by a more defensive oriented big. Kaman is probably the opposite, he's probably best suited to back up a guy like Tyson Chandler. There's a lot of good quality offense from the pivot, but neither of those guys or Sacre is going to enforce the paint.

Nick Young can give you offense on a good night, but he's streaky and he doesn't help you much in any of the other categories. I think Wesley Johnson is just a black hole on that roster. If he's going to keep getting 22-25 minutes a night, it's going to be a long season for the purple and gold. At least both guys give you young legs on defense and on the perimeter, and a lot of the speed that was lacking last season, but neither is a developmental type guy. It's one thing to take some unpleasant trade offs if it's growing pains for a guy like Trey Burke or Dennis Schroeder, a guy you hope has a long term future for you, but Young and Johnson are just guys burning minutes with some serious limitations.

It's too bad the Lakers burned out so many 1sts on the Sessions, Fisher, Nash and Walton deals. A guy they could really use is Rudy Goebert of the Jazz. 7'9 wingspan, pretty athletic for his size, massive standing reach. Even with rookie growing pains, at least he'd give you some intimidating presence in the paint. Hell, the Celts got Faverini for nothing, that guy could have been a Laker. Another guy in the offseason that I thought could help them would be Kostas Koufos, whom the Nuggets wanted gone to make JaVale McGee feel better, though I'm not sure the Lakers would have had the cap space and trade ammo for him.

The Lakers are going to live and die on the three ball, and need Farmar and Henry to do the heavy lifting on being the 2nd and 3rd scoring options besides Gasol. Right now the Lakers are probably a top ten offense, based on good old fashioned team ball that D'Antoni pushes, but a bottom 5 defense based on lack of personnel. It's too bad D'Antoni will probably take the negative rap for this defense, because it's easier to blame him than to accept the Lakers just don't have the size anymore they need to defend the rim.

Big difference between the Spurs and Lakers, as the Spurs have some of the same problems ( older players, earning top heavy against the cap, consistently picking in the back half of the draft and always up near the cap threshold) but the Spurs front office just does a better job of finding complementary/role players to fill in the gaps and give them some solid burn. LA has got to start hitting on those 2nd rounders and unearth some overseas and undrafted gems like the Spurs and Rockets do if they want to rebuild faster.

You know I'm not entirely sure D'Antoni would get the blame for a lack of defense from this team because that's all you've heard about the entire off/pre season. Over and over again all you heard was Howard left and MWP is gone, no defense left. It's not a secret that they went and got offensive players who don't play defense.

As much as this team could be fun to watch this year, the reality is this is a stop over for next year so i really don't see D'Antoni getting any kind of serious blame this year. But you never know I guess.

 

[Bodie The Cursed]

Fun bulls Knicks game last night.

As for the Lakers, its refreshing to see a bunch of guys who want to be there and work hard. I actually like this group and will have fun watching them..

 

[Shatterer of Dreams]

Time to put the referee conspiracies to bed:

NBA referees hate your team?

By Henry Abbott | November 1, 2013 9:57:03 AM PDT
Ryan Rodenberg, an assistant professor of sports law at Florida State University, writes in the Atlantic:


In three recently published academic articles, I studied several narrowly focused allegations of bias involving certain NBA referees against a specific player (Tim Duncan), a coach (Pat Riley), and an owner (Mark Cuban).

I found nothing.

In other words, I found no systematic evidence of a referee's personal animus negatively impacting the performance of the team in question.

In statistical parlance, my non-findings are known as null results. Researchers often struggle to publish such findings, creating what is commonly known as the "file drawer problem"-that is, the problem in which the public only sees the studies with the most eye-catching findings. But the dissemination of null results is critically important in a number of realms, including tests of NBA referee impartiality. A finding of "no bias" among on-court officials is what one should find if the referees are properly neutral. In other words, perhaps NBA referees deserve more credit than they've been getting.


Rodenberg investigated claims by people like Pat Riley and Mark Cuban, he also looked into what happens to Tim Duncan when Joey Crawford is on the court. And he could not find evidence of systematic bias.

Meanwhile, of course one of the most vociferous voices claiming that such bias exists is disgraced former referee Tim Donaghy. But, similarly, our digging into his claims found, like Rodenberg's research, that it just wasn't so.

 

[Shatterer of Dreams]

IMHO, I definitely think D'Antoni will take the rap because he's a nice safe and easy target.

In NY, when Melo and STAT were both out and injured, the Knicks actually played some very good defense. They were probably a top ten defense with both of those players out, even with Lin and Novak on the floor a decent amount. Part of that was the Knicks had the actual personnel to play solid team defense. Tyson Chandler is pretty mobile and can defend the rim and is an underrated help defender. I think he covered up a lot of deficiencies in other players in both Dallas and NY. Shumpert was then playing good perimeter defense and you had role players like Jarred Jeffries willing to body up and do a lot of the unheralded dirty work. Then Melo came back, was pissed he wasn't the center of attention anymore, then wanted D'Antoni out, so he dogged it until the Knicks fired Pringles. But still, fewer fingers were pointed at an out of shape Melo who has always been a black hole on defense and more on Pringles, with a lot of people cheering Woodson on as a guy who could "reach" Melo. No, Melo can't buck on Woodson because you can only kill off so many coaches before you get the rep of a coach killer and someone no elite coach wants to touch.

I think the local press won't want to point out that Kupchak probably paid far too much for an aging Nash, who has zero defensive ability left now and that Bryant is just not committed to putting as much in defensively as the team probably needs. Or that Kupchak hasn't really developed solid depth on the back end of the roster and a lot of his picks, albeit late ones, just didn't pan out. I think it's just easier for the press to rip Pringles for what is probably a problem across the entire organization, not just his issues.

When the Lakers didn't end up using the amnesty on Bryant, I think they openly committed themselves to sticking to a veteran squad and pushing to resign Bryant and Gasol and try to get a few more pieces around them. ( Though I think they might be overestimating Gasol's desire to resign and for a discount) If they were going to do that, I really think the future cap space isn't going to be used to chase the few restricted free agents out there that their original teams won't overpay ( This is how a team kills it cap, signing big contracts to guys like Gordon Hayward and Avery Bradley, guys who are helpful, but aren't going to carry your team) I think the best move is to use the cap space to see if they can buy some picks by taking on bad short contracts ( much like Utah did by taking on Biedriens and Jefferson expirings for Golden State first rounders) and try to leverage those for young players on rosters right now who just aren't getting minutes and teams might be willing to deal because they don't have the long term cap space or starting slots to hold them.

Kyle Singler of the Pistons
Evan Fournier of the Pacers
Donatas Montiejunas of the Rockets
John Henson of the Bucks
Alexy Shved of the Timberwolves
Perry Jones/Jeremy Lamb of the Thunder
Marcus Morris of the Suns
LaVoy Allen of the 76ers
Andrew Nicholson of the Magic
Isaiah Thomas 2 of the Kings
Kevin Seraphin of the Wizards

I think guys like Henson and Nicholson can help the Lakers if they want to get some complementary players around Bryant/Gasol, and if they don't work out so great, they are still young and cheap enough to trade off. Lance Stephenson is showing it, sometimes all a young guy needs is minutes and a good opportunity to shine.

I still think the best long term rebuild is the draft. But barring that, I think looking at a Henson or Nicholson is going to pay better dividends than looking to overpay Avery Bradley.

The millstone though, IMHO, is that Lakers big contract to form that channel/network. It's big money for sure, but it forces them to provide a contending or seemingly attempt at contending product on the court to justify that investment. Look at how the YES network pours in dollars for the Yankees, but also puts the pressure on them every year to try to make a run at the World Series no matter what.

Lakers don't have the ammo for the next draft.
I don't see many restricted FAs worth a big contract available, if they were valuable, their drafting teams resigned them already
I have a hard time seeing James and Melo coming to town, esp Melo
To me, the best remaining option is to hope Gasol resigns, try to get Bryant back at a large paycut and then try to use what resources you have left to try to grab young upside guys already on rosters who just might need minutes and opportunity to shine.

Actually all the LA articles I've been reading mention that Nash is a defensive liability and the signing may not pan out. Also they mention that Kobe is showing that he really doesn't care to play defense anymore. So again, there are no blinders on by anyone so I just don't see D'Antoni getting the blame here (unless he loses control of the team and they quit on him).

I still wouldn't underestimate the ability of the Lakers to get a good team on the court, they've done it time and again. Until something happens otherwise I'll continue to believe in their ability to do so.

I also agree with Bodie, I think they'll be fun to watch this year.

 

[DinoDB1975]

Y'all hear Jrue Holiday address the Pelicans fans last night at their home game?

"On behalf of the 76ers organization..."

 

[DinoDB1975]

Damn, today was a good day for Kobe Bryant:

"Negotiated as part of his specific contract, Bryant receives a balloon payment on Nov. 1. On Friday, the All-Star guard will receive $24,363,044 from the Lakers.

Bryant's salary for the entire season is $30,453,805 — the remaining $6.1 million will be paid out over the course of the year".

 

[Bodie The Cursed]

kapow!!!!.....

 

[Lawrence]

 

[denger4000]

So Spurs and Lakers tonight eh?

 

[Bodie The Cursed]

Ill be watching...no Duncan?... Nash playing?..

 

[SixMillionDollarMan Guy]

Damn, today was a good day for Kobe Bryant:

"Negotiated as part of his specific contract, Bryant receives a balloon payment on Nov. 1. On Friday, the All-Star guard will receive $24,363,044 from the Lakers.

Did you see the take home pay after taxes? $10.9 million.

39.6% ($9.6 million) to the Feds.

13.3% ($3.2 million) California state taxes.

($600,000) to Medicare tax and surcharge .

Still, I wouldn't be complaining --------> Yes please!

https://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba...lakers-paying-kobe-bryant-24-million-lump-sum

 

[Bodie The Cursed]

wow, that's crazy..

 

[denger4000]

Ill be watching...no Duncan?... Nash playing?..

Yeah No Timmy, I assume Nash will play.

 

[Shatterer of Dreams]

They made a game of it but alas....

 

[Bodie The Cursed]

yup. nash must be hurting eh

 

[Centurion]

Did you see the take home pay after taxes? $10.9 million.

39.6% ($9.6 million) to the Feds.

13.3% ($3.2 million) California state taxes.

($600,000) to Medicare tax and surcharge .

Still, I wouldn't be complaining --------> Yes please!

https://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba...lakers-paying-kobe-bryant-24-million-lump-sum

WTF??
Over 50% of it gone to taxes!