2018-19 NBA Thread

It's a great deal for New Orleans. The No. 4 pick is tricky, because I suspect there is 1-2 great players in the Draft after Barrett at 3, but it's New Orleans' task to find him without respect to position.

Incidentally, I think some lottery team should take a flyer on Bol Bol. And maybe someone will.

 

Agreed. Bol Bol has a remarkable skill set for someone with that height and build. I'd happily take my chances with him than with most of the players projected above him in the draft.

 

He’s an improvement over the facto one.

 

I dunno but my gut tells me David Griffin can take the fourth best player in the world not currently on an NBA roster and make a starter out of him.

 

Do I move the goalposts with it?

One was a basic standard of basketball. The other is a style of play that fits certain teams and players.

 

He strikes me as a player that'll have a career for 10+ years, or basically be unplayable, with zero in-between. I also admit to just kind of being down on centers in general right now - it seems like there is a glut of them in free agency each year now, because if you do make it deep into the playoffs, they get pick-and-rolled off the floor in most cases.

 

I was thinking football players, but maybe basketball is that different.

 

Davis has a player option for 20-21. If he declines the player’s option, do the Lakers still get to use the 5 year Super Max contract on him or does he become just an UFA?

 

From my understanding he will decline the option and become a UFA and then the Lakers will offer the Super Max. He will not sign an extension before then because the salary cap is expected to go up.

 

AD is a great name pick up but how many years of 70+ games next 4? I say lucky w 2.

 

Totally valid question, but a couple of points regarding that:

1) The Pelicans had the worst training staff in the league by a mile. It's the first thing Griffin addressed when he got there. No guarantees, but there's a good chance Davis will be better able to stay healthy somewhere else.

2) Everyone mocked the Raptors' "load management" with Kawhi sitting out games this year... until he became Finals MVP. If the Lakers are smart -- HUGE "if," I realize -- Davis may not be playing 70+ games in the regular season anyway. I suspect we're about to see a sea change in how players are rested.

 

All they probably need is one - this year or next year - assuming they get another all-star in the off-season, whether that's Kemba, Jimmy Butler or someone else near that level. And unless he's coming into a season hurt, they're going to sell a shitload of overpriced tickets and have record levels of corporate sponsorships, so that's going to be good for business.

I was kind of shell-shocked about the back-to-back Durant and Thompson injuries that I didn't really think, "Oh yeah, that means that the Western Conference is now wide open." Two weeks ago, the Rockets were thinking about blowing up their team. Now, they're probably the favorite to make it out of the West, at least until the Lakers make some more moves. And while I'd say the Rockets are the favorite, it's only a slight favorite - teams like the Jazz, the Nuggets, the Blazers, they're all contenders or just a player or two away as well.