nah this is just going to be his third year...think he missed his first year and played the last 2...
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It seems incredibly unlikely he ever develops a shot at this point. Even Kidd was close to 70% and eventually above 80% from the free throw line. That has always correlated with guys who develop a shot late. At this point I’ll be shocked if he ever becomes even a passable shooter from anywhere beyond 8 feet. It’s a shame given how otherwise talented he is. I still think the Sixers will be quite good. I like their moves . Horford is so cerebral and Richardson will fit nicely. I really like Whiteside to the Blazers also . He’s a complete idiot, and it could go south, but if he’s at all engaged, he can alter games like an elite player. I can’t recall the last time the Blazers had anything like him. Such a strange player.
I didn’t know they were friends, but I thought he might be able to somewhat focus him in. Whiteside played for the contract and then disappeared. Strange he’s friends with Dame given he is all heart and Whiteside seems to lack one. Wade was an old man to him and he isn’t exactly listening to some honky euro like goran. The Heat really haven’t played a meaningful game in 3 years. Hopefully playing for something and with dudes he respects keeps him in line. He’s an arrested development case and probably has like an 85 IQ, but If he’s at all into it, he makes Portland feel a whole lot different.
Welp. This seems like the least interesting decision he could make which makes sense for a guy that wears new balances.
he could be doing a 1 and 1 where he can get like 30 this year and then be eligible for the really huge contract that he can get being a 10 year vet...supposedly the '20 FA class is absolute shit so if he stays healthy this could make him a ton more money...
clippers
Kawhi didn’t find the Lakers circus appealing?
Kawhi asked for quiet during negotiations. No sooner was Kawhi’s meeting over with Magic than that buffoon, Magic, starting mouthing off. Well played.
The Lakers fallout will last a generation.
I like an orderly universe
Looks that way:
https://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/...eles-clippers/
Jerry Fucking West. Bang. This should be really interesting to watch.
So it looks like LA is going to be battle of Lebron/Davis versus Kawhi/George.
On a side note, I wonder if the Spurs regret alienating Kawhi during the 2017-18 season. Some of that is definitely on Popovich's shoulders.
never underestimate a billionaire with more money than god and an ego to go along with it...
fucking crazy...lot to give up...draft picks are what they are, but giving up shai who is supposedly on his way to being a decent young player is a fuckton to give up...
supposedly presti was trying to dump both westbrook and George on Toronto in a trade...fucking insanity...
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ove-clips-deal
Had Presti been able to strike a deal for George with the Raptors -- and Leonard was willing to stay -- George was believed to be willing to join the Raptors too, sources said. Presti pursued a package of Russell Westbrook with George to the Raptors -- with the NBA's Most Improved Player, forward Pascal Siakam as the centerpiece of a deal -- and Ujiri balked, league sources said. Ujiri had delivered Leonard everything that he wanted in a franchise: Leadership and trust, championship talent and a medical partnership that preserved and prepared his body. What Ujiri couldn't give Leonard was out of his control: Geography, weather, and a chance to return to his Southern California roots.
The above combined with this —>
Do you not remember Donald Sterling the previous Clippers owner? You saw BCR’s Jerry West post? All Ballmer did was build a gold standard organization.Quote:
never underestimate a billionaire with more money than god and an ego to go along with it...
It is true that Ballmer was too loud and too present in the first years. He recognized the issue and throttled back in a self aware fashion.
What we learned post Kawhi decision is that there are two teams that no one wants to play for - the Knicks & the Lakers. What is going to happen to Rob Palooka and the the circus? gone? Linda Rambis replaces him?
Load managed Elderly LeBron. Under 54½ is a mortal lock.
You take a moment and reorganize your thoughts. Maybe buy a Clippers jersey online.
The question for me is “Is there such a thing as a good LA team? A Los Angeles team worthy of my fandom?” Tough
How long before LeBron’s kid saves the day Druff?
definitely not a LeBron guy...im a Benjamin franklin guy...was just saying the parlay of those three things I mentioned was a helluva one to make...didn't trust that any one of those things would happen, let alone all 3 that I thought would be needed to get them to 55+...
kawhi is now my new favorite player...he saved my LAL under bet that I have...now need to wait for them to reopen the markets on it...
I deleted that paragraph.
“Helluva parlay” meant “long shot”. I get it.
Yeah, that is what that bet represented. 54½ had Kawhi baked in and that wasn’t happening.
When you heard that it was a lock that Kawhi was going to LA - you heard Magic Johnson.
“Tell me Magic, about the fine Lakers organization that you quit”.
“Thank you for honoring my request that you be discreet”.
Magic needs to focus his attention on the Dodgers now
That’s awesome. Forget about that future. Just salt it away like a Treasury Bill.
It will be kinda funny to see fresh lines. The Actuals (as you finance guys say) will be worse.
Can you imagine the amount of LA money that Vegas took. Or all the Lakers $ the global books took? People were betting LA like they had next year’s papers.
Good lord.
It’s so much better for the league. Wide open race now. I wouldn’t have wanted him if I was a Laker fan. Now you have to almost look at getting Lebron as a regret as I imagine Kawhi would have ended up there. Anything you won would be so devalued with those 3 guys and the Lakers have too much past success for that.
They don’t need him to be a hot ticket. Obviously Kawhi was going home and Toronto was just Siberia to some brother from SoCal, but they got a ring from it which is best case.. I’ve never seen so many generally clued in people wrong. I never thought being on super team fit Kawhi’s personality, but they had me convinced. Clippers going to be real good. That’s a perfect fit with PG and a deep bench. The Clippers have made the leap now with Ballmer and West. West killed five birds with one stone not getting stuck with an overpaid Harris, parlaying him into multiple firsts that gave them the assets to make this move, and then essentially getting Kawhi and George with only having to give up SGA. Overpay on George trade in many markets, but not in LA, and when you look at it as both for all those picks, it’s a deal. Cap space for teams in hard to attract markets is worthless as are draft picks in free agent destinations. The picks given up only hurt for in season moves. The Lakers now have nothing to trade in season which will hurt.
I can’t get over how fucked the clippers looked five years ago Jordan, Griffin, and Paul and those contracts looming. Not good enough and dysfunctional assholes with bad chemistry. To flip that situation so completely is master class stuff. The Lakers will be really good short term, but Ballmer/West v Jeannie/Pelinka/Rambii makes me giggle. The Lakers will always be the big brother in town, but in five years they’re going to be the big brother with a lisp and coke bottle glasses getting his ass kicked by his badass younger brother.
This is a fresh take for me. Of course, this is true. Oooooh, that’s gonna hurt Lakers fans when the reality sets in.
That really is the way I will remember this whole escapade.
Hey GBCP, did you take a Clippers future to win championship +1200 with me? Somewhere I posted it.
It soared to +1600 when Kawhi went to Toronto last meeting. I really wrestled with taking another helping but I had bet enough.
+300
Meh. The way I see it, when 99% of the league loves Pop, I'm not believing the 1 guy who wanted out. Pop even got flaky-ass momma's boy LaMarcus back on the train when he started his usual pouting.
I think Kawhi is just a strange dude who doesn't trust too many people. He pulled off wanting to go home like he was dodging the draft for Vietnam; he refused to show up for duty, hid in Canada for a year, now back home in LA again.
This offseason has put the fucking exclamation point on the NBA being a purely players league, the franchises themselves mean nothing anymore. The Celtics and Lakers are no more appealing to a player than the Hawks or Grizzlies. Even winning a title and keeping the band together to go for 2 doesn't mean shit to some, as we just saw. Its all about the players personal interest:
Lebron starting his pre-retirement where his business is
Durant doing the same
Kawhi going home
Butler doesn't care about winning, but partying in Miami sounds like fun.
so on and so on...
I doubt that the prime NBA fan demographic (males 12-30) even cares that much about teams anymore and they just root for players. Within 10 years we'll see the actual league just be called "NBA 2K" and every season begins with fantasy draft of all the players with everyone just on 1 year deals.
Philly is an imperfect team with the shooting issues, but this couldn’t have broken any better for you. I think Sixers/Bucks are pretty clear chalk at this point, and given you guys are +1000 every time Embiid is on the court, the ability to slide over Horford and stagger minutes is huge. Richardson is good too, and a good fit on a reasonable contract. Sixers and Bucks should be a tier above the pack.
BTW sports fans just something to chew on...
Kawhi played 60 games in the regular season last year...
Paul George could possibly miss the start of the season after having his shoulder operated on...
Kawhi ain’t playin any more than 60-65 games next year...
If you get an inflated LAC O/U in the mid 50s I think it’s a slam dunk under...
Pissed I didn’t check it out pre FA, but I would guess it’s gonna go up..:
The Raptors were 17-5, a 63 win pace, in games Kawhi missed for "load management" & 41-19, a 56 win pace, in games he played so unless you think the Clippers supporting cast is significantly worse after the Paul George trade, it might be because I have no idea, not sure I would touch that. There are still a lot of shitty teams in the league.
Yeah had a buddy of mine give me the same argument...
Definitely hear it, but the east was shiiiiit last year...now you’re going into a much tougher conference where I think GS was the only team to win over 55 and they only won 57...just think that these teams are gonna really discount the regular season to focus on being in prime shape for the payoffs...
If I get laid a price at 55.5 or over gonna have a tough time saying no to it...
Definitely not married to the idea just thought it might be a decent play given the standings from this past year and the load management shit..
possibility russ might be moving to MIA...
:popcorn
I just don't see him and jimmy ending well...
yeah...
wow for paul...talk about being exiled to the worst situation possible...
too lazy to look, know it would be hard to do, but wonder if presti is gonna look to flip paul to somebody and throw in a pick for the trouble of taking on that shit contract...if they end up keeping him for the duration what a way to end a career...
don't understand how this makes HOU better...especially for the way dantoni plays...
I think there is going to be a lot of "load management" from good teams and bad teams, for different reasons. The good teams to rest players for the playoffs and the bad teams to increase their lottery odds. I think the flattened out structure is going to make the tanking worse instead of better, because now 15 teams are gonna have a reason to tank instead of 2-3.
I think regular season basketball is going to be extremely meh quality this year, with a lot of players missing a lot of games.
Everyones saying Miami, but Paul to the Lakers seems to make the most sense.
Although, come to think of it, I don't think the Lakers have anyone eligible to be traded right now, besides Lebron and Kuzma.
What a bizarre move for everyone involved. Paul is better and one of the best pure pg’s of all time when healthy, but his health is unpredictable and his contract is aids so I can see wanting to move it, but that trade just feels like rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic. If Westbrook can at all play within a team concept it would be a good move as he has more miles left than Paul, but he’s shown an unwillingness to do that ever. He’s played amazingly selfish basketball for a long time. I wouldn’t want him if I’m Morey unless he called me up and said ,” I’m so sick of chasing stats and just want to win.” Not at the price they paid. Those picks are likely to convert at some point given the timeframe and that the rockets owner isn’t that rich by current nba owner standards. He can’t just spend $200 in tax every year to make sure they don’t fall off a cliff. Just a weird trade. All depends on how you value westbrook. I don’t value him highly. I wouldn’t give up my future picks for another bad contract to move my own bad contract.
I think Morey is ready to move in; that new Houston owner seems unhinged and this feels more like a 'fuck it, all in' move versus being a calculated one.
Or the CP3/Harden pairing was too toxic to move forward and this was the only way out.
Does anyone expect Westbrook to adapt his game and defer to Harden, the far superior player now?
Feels like this has to be the main reason. That, and paying someone $40 + million that is actually still playing versus what Paul may be in 2 years. I can’t see Westbrook changing, and a healthy Paul is better in playoffs than any Westbrook, but a healthy Paul is very hit or miss at this point and can’t be relied on. Not to mention he’s a head case. But man I love Paul’s game when he’s on. Just a beautiful player. That time has simply passed him by except for an occasional night unfortunately
Until this latest trade I totally confused Chris Paul with Paul George.
Also, weren't Harden & Westbrook mortal enemies when they were with the Thunder or was that Durant?
I am a massive Chris Paul fan - he went to my high school and we scrimmaged a fair amount. We were acquaintances. He was considered an excellent player but didnt draw interest from the bigger ACC schools due to his height. No one thought he would become an NBA superstar.
People forget now because he's mercurial and no longer elite but he crushed it through his NO tenure and for most of his Clippers time as well. Those Clippers teams could never put it together.
It's always been weird to me that he's basically the biggest dick in the league. I didn't play varsity but knew him well and he couldn't have been more friendly and down to earth.
well didn't think this would happen...thought i'd be able to leg into this position…guess ill turn my attention to the clippers...56.5...
guess vegas thought the way I thought about pelinka's ability to fill out a bench around LeBron and AD...fucking pissed now...