*** OFFICIAL *** 2017-18 NBA Thread

[ErickAA]

1. Of course Durant signs under-market and then the Warriors get Boogie. League is so dumb....I doubt I will watch much of anything next year....unless hopefully Curry's ankle disintegrates or something.

2. Kind of want to watch this Laker team tho. Should be entertaining.....LeBron clearly just on the retirement cruise now.

3. Kawhi winds up on the sixers now then right? I kinda hope SA plays hardball and he threatens to holdout.

Have you ever watched Cousin's play? He plays nothing like the Warriors system when they are really trying to win. If the Warriors are actually trying to win they should probably play him like they did Pachulia. Start the first and third Q and garbage time and that is it. He actually probably isn't worth much more than the $5M he is making to that team.

As far as Lebron and this years Laker team, there are A LOT of really good free agents coming available next year, including Klay and I think Durant. All the guys the Lakers are signing are 1 year deals. Looks like they are trying to get competitive this year, and next year will be the year they make a push. If the Warriors lose a star or two next summer and Lakers pick up a star or two (both very reasonable) the shift of power in the west could turn fast.

As far as Kawhi, a lot of that depends on how committed the 76ers think he is to signing a big deal with the Lakers in the next year (something the Lakers will have the flexibility to do next summer with their current roster moves). How much are the 76ers willing to give up on what might be a 1 year rental?

[blake]

as a sixer fan, i don’t want them to trade anything for kawhi unless he commits to staying longterm. if he is determined to go to LA, why bother on a rental.

i know it worked out for OKC with george, but with kawhi coming off an injury and apparently being crazy emotional, i’ll pass. he’ll end up being “injured” the whole year

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

exum 3/33 to stay in Utah...

jesus fucking Christ...I mean, wow...I get potential and all that shit, but wow...guess it's 3 years so it's not that terrible, but man not really doing much on your rookie deal and getting 10+/year on your second contract is amazing...

[BCR]

exum 3/33 to stay in Utah...

jesus fucking Christ...I mean, wow...I get potential and all that shit, but wow...guess it's 3 years so it's not that terrible, but man not really doing much on your rookie deal and getting 10+/year on your second contract is amazing...

Yeah, he’s pretty much garbage. Hurt all the time. Horrible handle. Can’t shoot. Gets blown by on defense. Laying out $29 million annually for Favors/Exum seems suspect. They clearly think the upside still there, and it’s Utah, so I get overpay, but strange moves for a well run team. I hesitate to call them dumb moves given they have smart FO and coach, so I guess we’ll see, but my gut reaction to both deals were that I thought those guys were worth like 50% of what they got. They have 3 very good building blocks. If I was going to blow $29 million, I’d have been looking at Euros where Utah might not be such a deal breaker.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

exum 3/33 to stay in Utah...

jesus fucking Christ...I mean, wow...I get potential and all that shit, but wow...guess it's 3 years so it's not that terrible, but man not really doing much on your rookie deal and getting 10+/year on your second contract is amazing...

Yeah, he’s pretty much garbage. Hurt all the time. Horrible handle. Can’t shoot. Gets blown by on defense. Laying out $29 million annually for Favors/Exum seems suspect. They clearly think the upside still there, and it’s Utah, so I get overpay, but strange moves for a well run team. I hesitate to call them dumb moves given they have smart FO and coach, so I guess we’ll see, but my gut reaction to both deals were that I thought those guys were worth like 50% of what they got. They have 3 very good building blocks. If I was going to blow $29 million, I’d have been looking at Euros where Utah might not be such a deal breaker.

BCR is the new haralabob…

I think theyre hoping to catch a Stephen curry lightning in a bottle thing with an oft injured guy, hoping that he'll majorly outperform...but if you cant shoot by now, I find it hard to believe you're just gonna find it...I just cant imagine there were teams out there clamoring to offer him more than like 3/15 so this just seems like a beyond overpay...

everything I read about favors is that he struggles next to a guy like gobert so yeah 18/year seems tough for a guy that cant reach his potential with your best interior player...

interesting idea with the euro angle...put a couple of those guys that can shoot along side of Mitchell, engles and gobert and see what they could do...would be an interesting little team there...

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

booker supposedly getting a max from PHX...5/150+

was a big fan of booker coming outta UK...biggish guy who can shoot the shit outta the ball...30+/year is probably a bit strong because from the little I can gather he is a big minus on D so for that kinda money I would hope that you could at least be a marginally OK defender and could occasionally run a team...think they're pushing towards that last part...

even though it's a bit strong I mean it's not like they could let him walk...

[ErickAA]

booker supposedly getting a max from PHX...5/150+

was a big fan of booker coming outta UK...biggish guy who can shoot the shit outta the ball...30+/year is probably a bit strong because from the little I can gather he is a big minus on D so for that kinda money I would hope that you could at least be a marginally OK defender and could occasionally run a team...think they're pushing towards that last part...

even though it's a bit strong I mean it's not like they could let him walk...

I watched a lot of PHX on league pass for gambling reasons, and Booker was prominently involved in a lot of games where PHX lost by 30+ points and his personal +/- was comparable to the margin of defeat. I know he doesn't have world beaters around him, but you would expect that by year 3 if you really had a star player in the making you wouldn't be see the team he was leading repeatedly getting blown off the floor so regularly, even with a subpar surrounding cast.

Is there a single player who later went on to become a superstar who was prominently featured on the worst team in the league in his 3rd year? I can't think of any.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

booker supposedly getting a max from PHX...5/150+

was a big fan of booker coming outta UK...biggish guy who can shoot the shit outta the ball...30+/year is probably a bit strong because from the little I can gather he is a big minus on D so for that kinda money I would hope that you could at least be a marginally OK defender and could occasionally run a team...think they're pushing towards that last part...

even though it's a bit strong I mean it's not like they could let him walk...

I watched a lot of PHX on league pass for gambling reasons, and Booker was prominently involved in a lot of games where PHX lost by 30+ points and his personal +/- was comparable to the margin of defeat. I know he doesn't have world beaters around him, but you would expect that by year 3 if you really had a star player in the making you wouldn't be see the team he was leading repeatedly getting blown off the floor so regularly, even with a subpar surrounding cast.

Is there a single player who later went on to become a superstar who was prominently featured on the worst team in the league in his 3rd year? I can't think of any.

confirms my suspicions that he's a terrible minus on D...but again I don't know if they can let him walk...

boogie would probably fit that bill...kings were always shit during his tenure...he's an obvious mental case which probably didn't help...

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

If you don't like the NBA FA shit I just don't know what to say...this shit from a team that wouldn't tack on like 2-3M/year onto a contract offer to james harden because they were worried about going into the fucking tax...now they are basically paying Carmelo Anthony $53M to play for them (tax included) with zero hope of winning anything...and by that extension they are paying russa russ $80+M to play for them...

Free-agent guard Raymond Felton has agreed to a one-year, $2.4 million deal to return to the Oklahoma City Thunder, league sources told ESPN.

Felton's signing will push the Thunder's payroll and luxury tax hurtling past an historic NBA threshold: $300 million. The Thunder are responsible to pay $150 million in tax on the 2018-19 season's roster, if the roster stays intact through the end of the season.

[Dan Druff]

Having Westbrook, Durant, and Harden at the same time and letting 2/3 of that get away without winning a single conference final is really a huge fail.

Anyway, the Kawhi saga gets even weirder.

Check this out:

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/twt/status/1014969734528471040

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/twt/status/1015013395119071232

This is just insane. By far the weirdest injury situation I've ever seen in professional sports.

Either Kawhi is being grossly mishandled, his injuries are far worse than he's letting on, or both.

He's really become a mess. I don't want the Lakers touching him at this point.

[ErickAA]

They won one conference final and lost in the finals to the heat in 2011-12 FWIW.

[ErickAA]

With those weird 1 year contracts of all the replacement level players looks like the Lakers are going to punt this year and then try to make a run in next summer's free agent class (when Lebron is 34-35 yr old).

[gut]

With those weird 1 year contracts of all the replacement level players looks like the Lakers are going to punt this year and then try to make a run in next summer's free agent class (when Lebron is 34-35 yr old).

I wouldn't say they are punting this year. Assuming they make no further trades, taking a 35 win team and adding LeBron and removing Brook Lopez and broken-IT automatically makes them a 50 win team at their floor and probably a 3-4 seed if everyone stays relatively healthy.

I'm excited to watch a lineup of Ball-KCP-LBJ-Ingram-Kuzma on the floor, and you still have Hart, Stephenson, Rondo, Javale as rotation guys...its a sneaky good team. People are acting like theyre doomed because they didnt get a 2nd "star". They probably already have one in Ingram.

[varys]

booker supposedly getting a max from PHX...5/150+

was a big fan of booker coming outta UK...biggish guy who can shoot the shit outta the ball...30+/year is probably a bit strong because from the little I can gather he is a big minus on D so for that kinda money I would hope that you could at least be a marginally OK defender and could occasionally run a team...think they're pushing towards that last part...

even though it's a bit strong I mean it's not like they could let him walk...

I watched a lot of PHX on league pass for gambling reasons, and Booker was prominently involved in a lot of games where PHX lost by 30+ points and his personal +/- was comparable to the margin of defeat. I know he doesn't have world beaters around him, but you would expect that by year 3 if you really had a star player in the making you wouldn't be see the team he was leading repeatedly getting blown off the floor so regularly, even with a subpar surrounding cast.

Is there a single player who later went on to become a superstar who was prominently featured on the worst team in the league in his 3rd year? I can't think of any.

Chris Bosh, Kevin Love

[ErickAA]

I watched a lot of PHX on league pass for gambling reasons, and Booker was prominently involved in a lot of games where PHX lost by 30+ points and his personal +/- was comparable to the margin of defeat. I know he doesn't have world beaters around him, but you would expect that by year 3 if you really had a star player in the making you wouldn't be see the team he was leading repeatedly getting blown off the floor so regularly, even with a subpar surrounding cast.

Is there a single player who later went on to become a superstar who was prominently featured on the worst team in the league in his 3rd year? I can't think of any.

Chris Bosh, Kevin Love

I am not sure they meet the definition of superstar. But they reached a level of competency that if Booker were to meet would justify the deal he got. So fair enough.

[jsearles22]

Chris Bosh, Kevin Love

I am not sure they meet the definition of superstar. But they reached a level of competency that if Booker were to meet would justify the deal he got. So fair enough.

Michael Jordan?

[ErickAA]

I am not sure they meet the definition of superstar. But they reached a level of competency that if Booker were to meet would justify the deal he got. So fair enough.

Michael Jordan?

I checked and the Bulls won 40 games and were the 8th seed in the East in Jordan's 3rd year, so obviously not worst team in the leauge. I didn't actually fact check whether Toronto and Minnesota were the worst teams in the league during Love and Bosh's 3rd year. They probably weren't, so maybe my point does stand.

[varys]

They were bad enough

[Sloppy Joe]

With those weird 1 year contracts of all the replacement level players looks like the Lakers are going to punt this year and then try to make a run in next summer's free agent class (when Lebron is 34-35 yr old).

I wouldn't say they are punting this year. Assuming they make no further trades, taking a 35 win team and adding LeBron and removing Brook Lopez and broken-IT automatically makes them a 50 win team at their floor and probably a 3-4 seed if everyone stays relatively healthy.

I'm excited to watch a lineup of Ball-KCP-LBJ-Ingram-Kuzma on the floor, and you still have Hart, Stephenson, Rondo, Javale as rotation guys...its a sneaky good team. People are acting like theyre doomed because they didnt get a 2nd "star". They probably already have one in Ingram.

I think Ingram is really good and will thrive under LeBron, provided they keep him. Same with Lonzo.

I can't imagine LeBron carrying the same workload as he did last year; if I recall he played all 82 games and was among the league leaders in minutes. That shit can't be done in the west.

Also not sure why more players don't sign with Klutch. KCP isn't bad but LOL at his last two contracts. Tristan Thompson as well.

[KidPresentable]

If you don't like the NBA FA shit I just don't know what to say...this shit from a team that wouldn't tack on like 2-3M/year onto a contract offer to james harden because they were worried about going into the fucking tax...now they are basically paying Carmelo Anthony $53M to play for them (tax included) with zero hope of winning anything...and by that extension they are paying russa russ $80+M to play for them...

Free-agent guard Raymond Felton has agreed to a one-year, $2.4 million deal to return to the Oklahoma City Thunder, league sources told ESPN.

Felton's signing will push the Thunder's payroll and luxury tax hurtling past an historic NBA threshold: $300 million. The Thunder are responsible to pay $150 million in tax on the 2018-19 season's roster, if the roster stays intact through the end of the season.

There is almost zero chance that Anthony and his full salary are still on the books for OKC this season, either by a trade or just by stretching and waiving him. That will cut down their tax payment by over $50 million. I don't even know if a trade is possible at this point with most of the bad teams that also have cap space already using up a bunch of it. Plus, why would you want to get draft picks from OKC when they're most likely going to be a playoff team for the foreseeable future? But I guess there are reasons why teams like the Kings and Bulls are what they are...

And that deal for Felton is fine. You're getting a competent backup point guard for cheap.