I'm happy for Huff and Scottie Pippen Jr though. Worked their butts off to get to this point. _________________ Yi Jianlian Fanboy. Respect The Chair.
Starting anew. I'm retiring my main.
Edey was struggling with the pace of the game. Something he'll have to adjust to in the NBA. _________________ It was reminiscent of one of those Most Interesting Man in the World advertisements: "I don't always shoot 6-for-28 from the field, but when I do, I become the youngest player in league history to score 28,000 career points."
Vegas has teams like OKC, Minnesota, Denver, Phoenix, Dallas etc as the top teams in the West. From what I’ve seen so far the Lakers should be the favorite to come out of the west since Denver lost a few key pieces.
Ignoring OKC and Dallas, the crazy thing is that the rest of the west feels wide open. I think any path to the finals will have to go through those 2 teams, and the Lakers own OKC.
- Minny downgraded with the addition of Randle and will have offensive woes worse than least season.
- Denver has to incorporate Westbrook, which could very well spell disaster for their chemistry. They lost 2 key defenders in Brown and KCP.
- Kings are all offense and no defense. They will be similar to Denver.
- Grizzles are a wildcard, but all it takes is another Ja incident for them to be knocked out.
- Warriors don't really have a #2. It's just Curry and some good shooters around him.
- Pels have too many injuries to deal with (DJM, TM3) and their season is effectively over if Zion gets hurt again (god forbid).
- Suns have no depth outside their big 3. _________________ Yi Jianlian Fanboy. Respect The Chair.
Starting anew. I'm retiring my main.
Joined: 26 Sep 2010 Posts: 4667 Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posted: Thu Oct 24, 2024 11:02 am Post subject:
I think OKC and Minny are the toughest teams in the west. Denver made epic mistakes this off-season and I think Lakers can finally beat them. Griz are a wild card and Suns didn't look to hot in their opener v. clippers (one game, so no big deal...i know).
As far as Dallas goes, I still maintain they highly overachieved last season and I think they got worse this off season. Klay is not going to move the needle for them in the direction they want in my opinion. I would be very surprised if Dallas finishes as high as they did last year and even more surprised if the come close to sniffing the WCF.
OKC seems like the most sure thing at the top of the west, barring a catastrophe. Grizz would be my wild card for the second seed. They have a lot of solid two-way players, and Ja is still a very tough cover. Not sure how far they'd make it in the playoffs, but Ja, Bane, Smart, JJJ, Edey is a formidable starting 5, with flexibility to play in different ways and use Clarke, Aldama and others off the bench. I had the Suns in my top 3...but I'm not so sure after seeing their lineup in practice. Have a feeling that Bud is going to overuse Tyus Jones based on what we saw against the Clips, and Tyus, Nurk and Plumlee are all way too easy to pick on defensively. Their best lineup is probably Allen, Beal, Booker, O'Neal, and KD at the 5, but any lineup with KD at the 5 is playing right into our hands. It is going to be very tough for any team to win the small ball game against a lineup with AD and Lebron. My other wildcard for the top 4 is the Warriors. Not really because of Steph and Dray, but their depth is going to allow them to coast a lot of nights and preserve their aging vets. They've gotten their whole roster to really buy in defensively. I know they just played the Blazers, but they are consistently beating worse lineups very badly. They don't relent and I think it's a good sign for them. Combine that with the ability to just have outlier shooting nights, and it's a good recipe for regular season success. I think they potentially struggle against us if we get matched up in the playoffs for the same small ball reasons.
Outside of those four, I agree with 27 and others here that Dallas overachieved. They were hovering in the play-in when they made their mid season trades and caught some momentum. They also caught very favorable matchups in the playoffs. THJ and DJJ out for Klay in may not move the needle in the way they're expecting. Klay hasn't played defense for years, and that is going to be tough next to Luke and Kyrie. DJJ really balanced that group out and could guard 1-4. Minny is objectively worse this year, even once they figure out their lineups with Randle. He's just worse than KAT on both ends and a worse fit on that roster. Denver is slowly crumbling and they haven't been able to fill the voids left by their departing role players. Clippers obviously have a number of issues. Pels have injuries and the Kings are just looking very bad, after closing last season looking very bad too. I think we may have a chance to slide up and avoid the play-in for once.
If this AD is legit, after OKC and Denver, it’s Memphis, Dallas and us _________________ “The main goal for the Lakers is to win a championship. All I care about, all we care about, is to raise another banner in the rafters.“
Indiana Pacers C James Wiseman has suffered a torn left Achilles tendon, league sources tell ESPN. The team and Wiseman are working collaboratively to determine treatment options.
Indiana Pacers C James Wiseman has suffered a torn left Achilles tendon, league sources tell ESPN. The team and Wiseman are working collaboratively to determine treatment options.
Damn tearing your Achilles this young really sucks. Usually if you are unlucky to tear your Achilles you at least played till you are around 30 or older and established yourself.
Wiseman was trying to find a home in the NBA and now he will be a free agent coming off of that injury. He did get #2 overall money so at least he got a decent payday.
Taurean Prince wasn't the problem.
Starting Taurean Prince and not bringing him off the bench for only 24 minutes a game at most was the problem.
I agree he should have been coming off the bench but the Bucks are starting him too and he played 30 minutes for them like if Ham was the Buck's head coach.
Meanwhile, the Warriors dropped a past his prime Klay and replaced him with 3-4 shooters and still have Wiggins(whom is healthy this season) to pass offensive responsibility to. Adding more depth in the process. That organization continues to play Chess while the league plays Checkers.
The league is very lucky the Warriors got the 2nd pick and not the 1st, otherwise Ant would be there right now.
But Steve Kerr didn't like Ant and ripped him at his pre-draft workout telling him he wasn't sure he had the work ethic to succeed and told him he's not the kind of guy to give $50 million to.
That's because Edwards showed up unmotivated and lax during the workout and Kerr gave him actual critique of where that would get him and how if they had the 1st pick, after a performance like that they wouldn't pick him, that moment changed his whole mentality and made him a mad man in the gym and increase his work ethic to take the game seriously. He references that as the moment that changed his mentality. Kerr told him how Curry and KD worked out and how Ant wasn't bringing that and was 'going through the motions' as opposed to bringing it. It was real talk that a Coach should tell a youngster.
The Warriors still wouldn't have passed up on Ant if they had the first pick, too much upside and less of a risk than Wiseman(whom also had work ethic questions). But the real talk from Kerr would have remained the same, and he would have been motivated to show him the changed mentality.
The only other guys there would have been Lamelo, or Maxey(whom was a sleeper later in the draft)
The Warriors choked picking Wiseman. It was a terrible pick.
Joined: 27 May 2010 Posts: 52028 Location: LA to the Bay
Posted: Thu Oct 24, 2024 4:13 pm Post subject:
Lakersfan1211 wrote:
Quote:
Indiana Pacers C James Wiseman has suffered a torn left Achilles tendon, league sources tell ESPN. The team and Wiseman are working collaboratively to determine treatment options.
Indiana Pacers C James Wiseman has suffered a torn left Achilles tendon, league sources tell ESPN. The team and Wiseman are working collaboratively to determine treatment options.
That's just sad. I saw it happen. He shot a three and it missed and he was just running backwards on the court and then stopped, and turned around and then fell to the ground in a heap. It happened with him just slowly running backwards.. that was it.
Sad to see what's happened to his career. That injury in his rookie season may have derailed his career and he's never been able to find a groove in the league since then. _________________ How NBA 2K18 failed the All-Time Lakers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxMBYm3wwxk
If the Spurs decide to pursue a trade for a star this season, WATCH OUT! They got some nice pieces, and trade assets to make move to bring help for Wemby
Indiana Pacers C James Wiseman has suffered a torn left Achilles tendon, league sources tell ESPN. The team and Wiseman are working collaboratively to determine treatment options.
Feels bad man. A tendon rupture at 23... in a season opener. Crazy.
Used to be an old man's injury because a vulnerable tendon usually reflected years of wear and tear, but now athletes in their early 20s are getting it.
Young athletes need to slow down honestly. Too much emphasis on playing all year round, with little to no recovery. _________________ Yi Jianlian Fanboy. Respect The Chair.
Starting anew. I'm retiring my main.
Joined: 24 Dec 2007 Posts: 36704 Location: Santa Clarita, CA (Hell) ->>>>>Ithaca, NY -≥≥≥≥≥Berkeley, CA
Posted: Thu Oct 24, 2024 5:09 pm Post subject:
27 wrote:
I think OKC and Minny are the toughest teams in the west. Denver made epic mistakes this off-season and I think Lakers can finally beat them. Griz are a wild card and Suns didn't look to hot in their opener v. clippers (one game, so no big deal...i know).
As far as Dallas goes, I still maintain they highly overachieved last season and I think they got worse this off season. Klay is not going to move the needle for them in the direction they want in my opinion. I would be very surprised if Dallas finishes as high as they did last year and even more surprised if the come close to sniffing the WCF.
And OKC will be fed Clipper lottery picks for years to come. Boston-OKC will be the new GSW-Cleveland rivalry. _________________ Damian Lillard shatters Dwight Coward's championship dreams:
Feels so weird seeing CP3 and Harrison Barnes on the Spurs
It's like they had another expansion draft.
The bigger surprise to me, is those 2 starting for the Spurs in the first place.
Why is Keldon Johnson coming off the bench in favor of Barnes? Didn't he average 22 points as a starter before? Like...why?
And Paul? Dude is almost a corpse at this point in his career. You're telling me they have worst guard options than we do? _________________ Knecht 4 Starter
jodeke wrote:
I think Bron is in his world playing with Bronny. I wonder if they shower together.
Have to disagree with some of the takes on Dallas
, think Luka has nice pieces around him and wouldn’t be surprised if Dallas is 1st seed this season. Their offense will always be there but I think their defense improves of course if majority of their bigs stay healthy.
Trae Young would have helped the Spurs in a game like this, they might regret not going after him when they had the chance, now it’s gonna be about how far Wemby and his greatness takes the Spurs this year
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