2018-19 NBA Thread

Missed the WNBA draft. apparently ESPN did mock WNBA drafts while everyone else mocks the WNBA draft.

They'd get better ratings putting the players on stage in their underarmours and have the drafted player walk down a runway, pose and turn and walk away.

 

He wanted to strong arm his way to playing with LeBron instead of a) waiting for the off-season or b) privately mentioning it to the powers that be. It blew up in his face. Yeah ownership likely knew but regardless, it's on Davis. BTW, the Pelicans rejecting the Lakers' also rans to keep Davis until the summer was hilarious.

 

They needed to enter this season with a plan to move Anthony Davis. They didn't. Acting like he should have "privately mentioned" it ignores the fact that everyone knew it was coming (and for all we knew, he did tell them). Saying it's on Davis ignores the fact that his contract was up and he was absolutely going to leave.

The Pelicans are not a competent organization. Their play here seems to be to act hurt and continue the perpetual rebuild. They need to salvage this in the offseason, but I don't know if they can do it.

 

• While the Anthony Davis saga wasn’t the main reason for Johnson’s resignation, Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry couldn’t help but notice that the two heads of basketball operations involved in those trade discussions are now unemployed, as Nick Friedell of ESPN.com details. Gentry said he has never seen a situation as “toxic” as the Davis trade request during his time in the NBA. “Not this toxic, no,” Gentry said. “Not that affected two teams. And two guys. One lost his job, and the other one resigned from his job. So no, in 31 years I hadn’t had anything that would equal this kind of fallout. No, I haven’t.”

Magic Johnson Fallout: News, Rumors, Reactions, More

 

The Pelicans are under no obligation to do anything but act in the best interests of the team. If they are too incompetent to know what that is then they are doomed to eternal suckage. Taking the deal the Lakers offered was not the best deal to take. They owe Davis a regular paycheck. He owes them his best efforts. If he wants to go to LA, become a free agent and sign with them. If the Pelicans want to trade him next season to Warriors for a 1st round draft choice, just to stick it to LA, that's ok too. But in the NBA, unlike the NFL, the contracts have value and meaning. You can't cut a guy because he makes too much. For a one year rental, OKC would take him, Boston, Toronto and any of the top teams would take Davis because it is the biggest difference each team has to get to a Championship. Almost every very good team would trade a couple of #1s for 1 year of Davis. those picks aren't that valuable to them. And if NO cant get a better offer than the Lakers extortion offer, dump him and take some picks.
They arent getting a lottery pick for Davis because the teams in the lottery would rather have a rookie and his contract and build, then have one year of guy who wont get on the court

 

The Kings just fired Dave Joerger, which is a nice reminder of why the Sacramento Kings are perpetually the Sacramento Kings.

If I'm a team like the Suns, Joerger's phone is already ringing.

 

Kings gonna King

12-win improvement with exciting young core for best record in 13 years so lets get rid of the coach.

 

I always read how much of a dumpster fire the Pelicans are... and yet they won a playoff series in the west last year. Then took a game off the Warriors before losing 4-1. The champions of the Eastern conference couldn't win a game off the Warriors last year.

Winning a series in the west is not easy. A LOT of teams don't have the competence to win a series in the west.

Yet I always read about the Pelicans like they are the Knicks, or the Wizards.

 

Also today: Vlade gets four-year extension on contract as GM.

They will be lining up to talk to Joerger and Luke Walton, as soon as the axe falls on the latter.

 

They lucked into a top-5 player in the draft. Then failed to surround him with enough talent to become a power.

They're the Bulls if all they ever ended up doing was adding Mark Price (Jrue Holiday is the equivalent).

In ways, they're worse than the Knicks or Wizards. They got a championship piece and did fuck all with it.

 

Why didn’t LeBron go to New Orleans? Would they not have paid what LA paid? He could have been there this year and next with AD. And recruit a guard. It doesn’t matter where these guys live. And NOLA can’t be a bad town to live in.

 

Yes.

They're also owned by the family who owned the Saints, who bought the team largely as a favor to the city. They don't care about it. The staff is terrible.

The medical staff for the team is made up of trainers from the Saints who have no experience with basketball. One of the chief medical figures from the Pelicans was fired from the Saints for incompetence but kept on the Pelicans staff.

There's a reason why the are one of the league leaders every year in games lost to injury.