Arena The NBA Thread

well no reason to watch this year either

 

i watched most games last year and will likely do the same again, but i share the sentiment that it's likely a lost season. klay had been so healthy for so long that i don't think people realized how important to the warriors' success he really was until he was out.

 

They tried to keep competing with Kevin Love. It became immediately obvious that they couldn't. They tried it. He couldn't carry the team as a #1, he was terrible, and broke down with injuries. So they had to scrap that.

Is this what they said (I haven't seen their comments), or how you see it? Who was the best player available? How do you know they don't think Okoro was the best player available?

 

lmao the Cavs absolutely did not try to compete seriously with K-Love what are you talking about. He got hurt immediately in 2018 and they went right into the tank. By Dec, before he ever came back, they'd fired Lue and had the firesale for assets Inty mentioned.

I doubt that team was going anywhere, despite loving Kev and being glad he got that contract, but that's not what happened.

 

I mean, the Warriors do have Steph coming back, right?

 

they do and hopefully he stays healthy. i still think they probably won't make the playoffs in the west without klay. would love to be wrong obviously.

 

Can anyone think of any other dynasties, in any major sport, ravaged by injuries like this?

This is exactly what I was talking about. They gave him the ball, he was the number one guy. It was atrocious, he was atrocious, and he got hurt immediately because he couldn't handle the load.

Game #1 5-18 FG, 32.4% USG, 104-116 L to TOR
Game #2 6-19 FG, 26.8% USG, 123-131 L to MIN
Game #3 6-19 FG, 27.6 % USG, 111-133 L to ATL
Game #4 injured, 86-102 L to BRK

All losses.

I think they saw enough. Him playing like **** and getting injured the moment they put the load on him made it clear they couldn't make a go with him. They can't do anything for him if he can't stay healthy.

 

Altman is on record each of the last three drafts saying they were taking the best player, regardless of position. And comments made this year are things like "it became obvious he was the best player available, because he fit a need" and "we fell in love with his character, and that mixed him up on our boards". So, I don't think it was adhering to the "best available" strategy, even though they claim it was

 

I see. Having looked up the quotes (I have google, so I shouldn't be lazy), I have to agree with your perception.

Altman said "fit" like a hundred times. It was all about how he fit. He'll retroactively claim Okoro was the best player, he'll say he was the best fit AND the best player, that he's both, because of course they're not going to admit they didn't take the best player. They're not going to say someone else was better.

If he was the best player, they would not have said anything about fit, much less talk about fit first and so many times. They'd just say he was the best player available, and leave it at that.


Pistons new GM Troy Weaver seems like he's making moves just to make moves. He's the new GM, dammit, and he's getting rid of everyone who was here before he got here, just because.

Seems like aggressive moves are valued more than good moves. If they're terrible, this will define him for me. Weaver was terrible, but he was aggressively terrible!

 

Dude what, 3 games is not "tried to keep competing with Kevin Love." It was 3 games.

And he was already injured during all those.

He didn't get hurt b/c he couldn't "handle the load" (whatever the hell that means lol). It was a toe injury in the preseason that he tried to play through and then needed surgery for.

Again I doubt K-Love takes them to the playoffs-- he didn't in MIN and the rest of the squad sucked so bad on their own that Lue got canned & the tank fired up-- but you're really misremembering/mischaracterizing what went down. Please listen to fans of the team, the way we would if the topic was the Pistons!

 

Alright I’ll defer.

I like what Denver has been doing in the draft. They’ve had young depth for years, so they’ve taken some risk on some higher upside players. MPJ, Bol Bol, and now Hampton. Looks like MPJ is working out great. Even if the others don’t turn out, I think it’s good strategy.

 

@tom

Apparently OKC is trading Oubre to GS for a protected 1st that will turn into two seconds if it doesn’t convey.

No worries, now! Totally replaced Klay!

 

ugh.

 

two seconds isn’t very long

 

athletic throwing around a possble trade idea for kicks: harden to warriors for wiseman/klay/future 1st as the general idea. if houston are in full rebuild mode the klay contract doesn't hurt them really (alternate idea is to throw in wiggins), they get wiseman to build around, and some future 1sts too (incl the minny one?). it's better than the crap the nets are offering anyway. warriors run with curry, harden and green. who says no?

 

I think the Warriors say no, because Harden and Curry is a difficult combination to see mesh together nicely. There's almost no evidence that Harden is going to change his game, and plenty of evidence showing he won't change his game for another superstar around him. If you're going to try to move Klay Thompson as a salary match (and, I'm assuming the #1 pick there is the pick owed to them from Minnesota, not their own) with their only really valuable assets, I think you try to get something that works better in the system than Harden. If you use your only assets and get it wrong and demonstrate to Steph that there's no such thing as loyalty with the Warriors (which, hey, I would totally get - they want to win titles, not sentiment), it's not hard to imagine him wanting out in a year after being unhappy playing with Harden.

Like, honestly, that might be enough to get the Wizards to move on from Bradley Beal. They'd have $90 million in sunk, injured contracts between Wall and Thompson, but they'd have some actual building blocks that would be on the same timeline and would give them realistic goals. I think Beal slots in much better as a Thompson replacement than Harden.

 

meeeeeeee, i say no.

 

i will be really bummed if we trade klay. not so much if we trade draymond lol.

 

If it gets him to unironically talk about it being how "the world turns" in some passive aggressive interview or tweet, it might all be worth it.

 

Toronto (Tampa Bay) Raptors! I mean just watching 'em on TeeVee so I can deal, maybe get some all stars for 1 year since they'll be in Tampa probably the whole season. Maybe playoffs in Toronto if we're lucky.

 

Heat are going to re-sign Dragic and Meyers Leonard to one and one deals to keep cap room for next summer. Dragic is going to get $18 million this year. Wow. Way more than I thought he'd get at this point.

Wes Matthews is going to sign with the Lakers.

Pistons signing Mason Plumlee on fairly reasonable three year, $25 million deal. I like him, I think he's underrated, especially his passing, but sigh.

Pistons also signing Jah Okafor to two year minimum salary. I like his moves, and he's absolutely destroyed us the past two years, but come on. This isn't football.

It makes it appear as if Christian Wood is as good as gone. I really enjoyed his growth last year, he looks like he could be an efficient 20 ppg scorer who can shoot threes, go to the rim on big steps like Giannis, finish lobs, finish difficult shots with touch, and block some shots. Wood was the guy who was supposed to replace Drummond, they gave him a promo saying as much. Idiots.

Whoever gets Wood is getting a diamond in the rough.