Arena The NBA Thread

Yeah. If you think you can get a piece that helps you win this year, you trade the Brooklyn pick. Period.

 

I like that "All In" attitude about trading away the Brooklyn pick if there's a deal that would help the Cavs win this year. It's a very "baseball" deadline trade. As I posted earlier, I would very much like the Cavs to make a trade that would help LeBron stay in Cleveland, as I don't want to see him in a Lakers, Clippers or Spurs uniform for the next 3-4 years.

And speaking of the Spurs, it's a bummer to hear that Kawhi is out indefinitely with his quad injury. Despite Klay Thompson being oftened labeled as the best two way player in the NBA, I'd say Kawhi is actually the best two way player as he was twice the defensive player of the year, a NBA Finals MVP and in the conversation as league MVP. Hopefully, Kawhi will return to the Spurs lineup by March to help get ready for the Spurs playoff run.

 

klay is rightly touted as a good or even great two-way player but i don't think i've ever heard anyone say he was the best. kd is making a case this year, but yeah it's probably kawhi or lebron once the playoffs start.

 

I mean, there are a handful of players that if the other team says "this guy is available if you include the Brooklyn Pick", you do it without even thinking about it.

Either of the Big Men in New Orleans. I mean. I don't think Davis is actually attainable, but Cousins would be the ultimate gamble, right? You go into the playoffs with Lebron, IT, Cousins all in walk situations. TT for Cousins works on a salary match, and throwing in the BKN pick might be enough to coax the Pellicans into the trade. If not, not difficult to add salaries and take on a longer Pelican contract for a slightly shorter Cavs contract and give them a little relief - 3 years of overpaying Omer Asik for Channing Fry's expiring contract, for instance. Cousins, in theory, helps on the defensive end.

IT, JR, Lebron, Love, and Boogie as your starting five - if they can meld and play together and if Tyrone Lue doesn't unteach Cousins how to play defense - is a damn good starting five, and you'd still have Crowder, Wade, Rose, Korver, Shumpert, and Green on the Bench.

The trade I've seen floated that I don't like is Love, TT, and the BKN pick (plus Cedi Osman, to make the numbers work) to the Clippers for Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.

 

Oh man, if Griffin and Jordan were traded to the Cavs, it would make the potential for a Dubs/Cavs NBA Finals matchup all the more intriguing and take it to a different level with the bad blood the Warriors had with the Clippers. For awhile, the Clippers/Warriors rivalry was the marquee match up because the teams hated each other.

But yeah, Boogie on the Cavs would make them a very scary team.

 

I think the issue for New Orleans is if you trade Boogie, you might as well get a King's Ransom for Davis and start over. And I'm not sure they want to sell that to their fans (even though, with the right package, it would be the right move to make).

 

IIRC, Boogie is an unrestricted free agent and when he was with the Kings, there was talk that he was seeking around $200 million in a new contract. I'm not sure what kind of impact a new Boogie contract (especially if it's $200 million) with the Pelicans' would effect their salary cap in the upcoming years or how it would effect them in filling out needs in their roster, so that's something New Orleans could use to spin to their fans on a possible trade of Cousins. At any rate, it's hard for me to imagine the Pelicans trading away Davis should Cousins leave via trade or free agency.

 

@A Chorus of Disapproval - thoughts on Joel Embiid being an All - Star?

 

That is how you dominate a nationally broadcast game.

Hoping for a tighter match up in a couple hours between Houston and GS.

 

148 points lol

if the Cavs don't make some moves before the trade deadline, they're not going to the finals this year. i don't care how well LeBron steps it up in the playoffs. this team is just poorly constructed.

and the Hawks suck.

 

missed this. and yeah, what you said. Bell looks good but a lot of players would look good in that Warriors team. Bulls made a mistake, **** happens. I'm more concerned with the fact we're wasting our chance at a decent pick this year by holding onto non-long term players.

 

Always nice to the warriors lose

 

twas a hell of a 3 at the end to put them up by 6.

 

I just have to tip my hat to the Rockets for their win against the Warriors as that was a clutch shot by Harden at the end. I was hoping kind of hoping that Mike D'Antoni wouldn't put Harden back in the game when he hit his restricted 30 minutes per game mark to improve the chance of the Warriors winning the game, but it will be better for the Dubs down the road should they meet in the Western Conference Finals. And it was more important to the Rockets than the Dubs to get the win as the Bearded one said it was important to their swag. Happy to hear no one tried to crash into the others' locker room after the game.

Reportedly, Kawhi isn't happy with the Spurs right now.

 

Bucks fire Jason Kidd
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/22181757/milwaukee-bucks-fire-head-coach-jason-kidd

And it should have happened. There's way too much talent to just be a .500 team

 

Yeah, I've been anticipating this one. They've had unfortunate injuries with Parker and Middleton last year, but his teams have been good at nothing. It's hard to make a case for him. With all the length they've had over his run, they should have been way better defensively.

 

Forty-Four
Twenty-Four
And Ten.




Damn, Boogie.

 

Cousins was in an elite group of players that hit those some kind of numbers. Wilt had like 6 games with those types of numbers.

So, there are reports that the Cavs players have all turned on Love for leaving the game early on Saturday and not showing up to the following practice. I'm not sure how this will effect the team moving forward as they have been reports of locker room/chemistry problems with the Cavs for the past few years but they have always been able to hit the switch when the playoffs are around the corner.

The Heat almost pulled out a victory against the Rockets. So close.

 

This Cavs-Spurs game is so weird— no one is there, the announcing is awkward as hell (McHale & Rip Hamilton??), there was a “6 guys on the court” technical which I’ve never seen before, and strangest of all...the Cavs seem like they’re playing defense!

 

Hey remember when we played defense for 5 min