2018-19 NBA Off-Season

Again, John, no one's talking about the way they were assembled. The entire point was, there have always been dominant teams. The leagues survive -- and generally thrive.

 

Of course there were always dominant teams. My point was, as it always has been, they were not built like the Heat or the Warriors.

 

The Warriors took Curry when many thought he was too small to be a star. Kept Thompson when he wasn't really a star yet and were getting some enticing trade offers. Drafted Green in the second round.

I think you have to give the front office credit for building the core group Durant and Cousins wanted to join. Even if you don't call it "scouting."

 

Why does that matter?

 

The Heat only drafted one of the their players. GS drafted Thompson, Curry and Green.

The Yankees I'm sure had a much larger scouting budget than the St. Louis Browns.

Would people be as pissed if Cousins went to the Lakers? I don't understand the GS hate. They play a really fun brand of basketball. They don't have one guy dribbling for 15 seconds trying to get a call from the ref (sorry Houston) or a great player surrounded by players that cannot run with them (Cleveland). They are perfectly unselfish (you can be too unselfish) and they support each other.

 

I would not discount their coach. If a team was your job, which it is, GS looks like the best place to work in town.

 

Cousins to the Warriors is a double plus because the Lakers didn’t get him.

 

Boogie in GS is stupendous; he’s a great talent and will Love playing w Ws. Yeah it’s stacking team but will be fun to watch. Never forget, highlight of Ws season used to be waiting for them to draft Dunleavy.

 

This isn't entirely true either. The Yankees had a big economic advantage back then, and there was no limit on the number of minor league teams you could have. For example: Athletics History: KC A's-Yankees Pipeline

 

What is with all the one-year deals? I figured the cap goes up each year. Seems like the same players competing for contract dollars this year will be competing for those dollars next year.
I really like what the Pelicans are doing.

 

The cap only went up $2 million this year. It's projected to be more like $7 million next year. Plus, a lot of 3-year deals from the last crazy spike will be coming off the books so teams will have more money freed up to spend.

And to each his own, but I think the Pelicans are hurting. They lost Boogie and Rondo. They added Randle, who can play, and Elfrid Payton, who can not.

 

Worth noting too, from what I've seen on Twitter: Cousins is coming in at the midlevel exception, approx. $5.4 mil. That's about how much cap money they gained after restructuring Durant's deal.

Essentially, they've traded JaVale McGee for Cousins. Even with the injury situation, I'd take that.