Well, the last thread started with the draft so I guess this season's should as well. It's a week today. Looks like Zion is gonna be number one, not sure there's any way that won't happen. Where will Kawhi end up? More importantly, where will Durant/Davis/Kyrie be? Nets looking likely for some...
Look out for the Pistons next year folks. Winning the east might be optimistic but we will at least have home court in the first round.
Well done to the Raptors. They have been the better side all throughout the series and really deserved it. Shame for Klay, hope he recovers quickly. The off season will be very interesting.
Kyrie is almost certainly going to the Nets. I'd expect Davis to go to Lakers for Ball, Ingram, pick and maybe Kuzma. Some of these assets will not remain with Pelicans. Durant will probably stay with the Warriors because of the injury. If they'd won the championship and he were healthy, he would have gone to Nets or Clippers. Kawhi is 50/50 between Clippers and Raptors. For the draft, Zion is 100% number one. Absolutely zero chance whatsoever that he's not.
Don’t see why it can’t just be as simple as the worst team gets the first pick. And so on and so forth.
Because you'll get teams losing for the sake of it in order to get the #1 pick? Not only does that suck, it also impacts the playoff race.
Don't think he wants to play with LeBron though. Can't see it happening, especially now that he's won another ring in Toronto.
To avoid extreme tanking. That's why they've gone ahead and changed the odds this year to give shit teams even less of a chance to get no. 1 pick and it worked great.
So no new super team then? I don’t think a Lakers’ squad deprived of assets in a Davis trade with an aging LeBron qualifies...
They absolutely qualify IMO. You have two top 5 players, and possibly you can get some half decent talent in free agency as well on small deals. If they wait with that trade until July they could potentially sign a max free agent before it happens. The issue is they won't be able to trade that pick before 20th July, and someone could jump in before that and steal him. They'll probably want to make that trade before the draft, but the issue is pick doesn't count against salary, and they won't have max space left. They just need to surround them with some shooting though, that's doable even with ca. $5million contracts.
Knicks will almost certainly draft RJB and have a decent amount of young talent they can develop. With Kyrie almost certainly going to the Nets and KD injured it will be interesting if they still pursue him given how players turn out after a ruptured Achilles. Kemba also wants to stay in the Hornets and butler is between Nets,Lakers, and the Sixers. Not much out there for the Knicks (why am I not surprised) so it might be best to build through the draft and develop the young talent they have. -Mitchell Robinson could be a real good player -DSJ is explosive but can he develop into starting calibre level player maybe all star? not sure but maybe. -Knox could be a solid player. -Trier gets buckets -RJB has all star potential The rest are ok bench players that can develop. Lets see what happens this off season. -As for the other teams I expect Lakers to be the best team int he west if they land AD and Pelicans could have a good core if they land Kuzma,Ingram, Lonzo and obviously having a Generational talent like Zion -Mavs with Luka and KP will be fun to see -Intersting to see what Hawks do -Interesting to see where Kawhi lands
Lebron - Davis looks scary. If they can surround them with competent shooters they will be contenders. Khawi will be the most interesting to see. Hope he stays with Raptors. Masai pulled the trade of a decade which was extremely risky at first look, gambled and it payed off. Durant won't go anywhere. The whole narrative changed and if he can get another ring with GS history will be kind to him.
I think the KD injury has actually had a considerable domino effect on free agency going into the summer. Before his injury I had him down as a certainty to go to New York with Kyrie joining him, or even the Nets in a reverse scenario. But with no superstar joining him I don’t see Kyrie going to either of those teams. So wondering if Kyrie might consider teaming up with Lebron (and possibly AD) in LA....now that’s a scary thought. As for Kawhi I genuinely have no idea, but I’ve got a gut feeling he’ll go to the clippers. Hope I’m wrong and he stays though, would love to see the Raptors go for another championship challenge considering GS are looking shaky next season.
Kyrie is almost certainly going to the Nets. With the agent change and all the whispers I would be shocked if he didn’t. As for KD if Warriors did anything wrong with his injury he’s 100% gone.
Unfortunately, highly highly unlikely. I reckon we get AD and then a second tier free agent. Hopefully we actually sign players who can shoot the ball this summer. It usually helps. Can't believe we've been installed as 1st/2nd favourites.
Wonder how D'Lo feels about Kyrie to the Nets? Could be a really competitive season next year, lots of teams well placed. Even if KD does stay, he doesn't play much, if any, of the regular season. Leaves the west open to about 4 teams.
Yeah exactly, and I wonder how he feels about that. He's been fantastic for them. I reckon Ingram and Ball will make people question why we traded them (if/when we do) as well.
I think Ingram will be awesome for Pelicans. A bit torn about Ball, he has great potential but lacks shot and has a ridiculous father. He’s a fantastic defender and has great court vision though.
We've been so much better when Ball's on the court. He makes teams better. I've always felt Ingram's been underrated a bit. I'm actually a bit gutted we're going to trade everyone. I've been in on us tanking and would've loved to see this team grow, and maybe add a star when they were ready. I know you don't say no to LeBron, but he moved the window for this team.
I think he has been recovered for a while now if I am not mistaken. Him and Luka could be a great partnership.
Love this tweet I saw on Reddit where someone said that look what happens when LeBron is not involved in the NBA finals - a whole nother country wins it.
I love listening to Nate Duncan’s podcast but their scouting reports are just so damning on everyone Even when they are complimenting someone they follow that up by listing 55 shortcomings. You are left with an impression that Zion at best is a beggar man’s Blake Griffin on offense and was 30% of Draymond Green on defense, and DeAndre Hunter’s best case scenario is a terrible DeMarre Carroll.
I agree. Good thing about swapping them all for Davis is he’s still quite young and his window for success is much longer than LeBron so even when LeBron goes in 3 years they could still have a foundation to build around.
Oh my god! they ket Kuzma too which is big! Man I am excited for the season to begin. AD and LBJ will be a PROBLEM.
Gap is there with Warriors fecked. Lakers big favourites now considering LeBron experience unmatched.
Already starting to have a dig at me? Like what is the issue with someone having an opinion. I hope New Orleans do well and I like the move they did they picked up some good pieces and will get some more but I still don't think they will get a chip its an opinion get over it bro. If they win a chip ill be the first to say I was wrong I have no problem with that.
