^20 Mil in Cap Space 6 1st Round Picks
It’s not even their final form yet.
They also get to sign a guaranteed max contract player before they re-sign Bledsoe.
Pelicans also bright, just need a Defensive SF they got murdered by injuries this year.
Assuming they manage to trade Gordon so Reke can move to SG.
Memphis jumped out to that big lead and got comfortable. Phoenix made thier push and Memphis clutched it out…Both Teams Played Hard. I was feeling pretty good about DAL but after having to grind this one out with PHO, I’m not so sure…we need our rest too…
It would’ve been nice to see PHX make it, but oh wells.
GSW 50 wins! Yeeeee!
It will be very tough, but I like the Mavs more against OKC then the Spurs for example. This season the Mavs showed they can beat the Thunder even with KD and Russel playing well. In my opinion the question will be though, how the old man will recover after the first 2 games of intense playoff basketball and how steady the backcourt is going to help Dirk in scoring. Also if Dirk can shoot 50% in that series and if Rick can get better ways to get some fastbreak points out of this team.
More embarrassed than ever to be a Lakers fan now. SO many people acting like the franchise is doomed cause we beat the Jazz. When the fuck have we EVER built from the draft!?
Showtime was built from the draft. Magic was first overall pick in 79, Worthy was first overall pick in 82. Lakers drafted Michael Cooper in 78. They brought in Kareem and Byron Scott, but those teams were mostly built on picks. How quickly people forget.
Building off draft picks is so boring… it still hasn’t amounted to shit for Cleveland. No gm in their right mind should still be doing that shit.
No.
You can still build through the draft, but you have to be SMART about it. And you have to have a little luck. OKC - the shining example - was able to get Durant - a future HoF, and then were wise enough to chase Westbrook and Harden and Ibaka. That core was all drafted. Yes there was luck that they landed a transcendent superstar in Durant and that Westbrook was a better NBA player than college player - but smart draft choices have helped them to continue growing. Everyone thought the sky would fall with the Harden trade, yet here they still are, smartly flipping Harden and using picks to replace some of his production and making a back-up for WB.
The problem with building through the draft is a team like Cleveland is just a habitual f#ck up. Me- I like some of their picks - Tristan will be a good roleplayer for a play-off team and Irving is a top ten PG with top 5 ability. Then I see Dion Waiters and I say “hold it - he needs to be trade bait or you should have grabbed someone else”. But it’s obvious that team was in a bad place this season and doesn’t look to REALLY rebound next year. I don’t know their pick situation - but they could have the top pick again, but I doubt it would amount to much. It’s just hte organization man. I look at Washington. Their back court is all drafted, and they’ve used FA and trades to fill in holes around Wall/Beal.
I think an organization needs to be honest with itself. Are you a FA destination like NY or LA or Chi or MIA or HOU? If not, then you’ll have to work trades to get good pieces and will only get stars/superstars through drafting. Cleveland has gotten LBJ and Irving - and just do a poor job putting the right pieces around them. No one that you would want is going to Milwaukee - they NEED draft picks.
shrug
The 79 and 82 picks were acquired through trades from Utah and Cleveland. Coop was a 2nd round pick. Following lottery seasons, Lakers drafted Elgin Baylor, Eddie Jones, Andrew Bynum.
The road to lottery -> draft -> championship (as in, the 1st overall pick is playing for the team, and leading them to a LarryO and FMVP) has only benefited the Rockets and Spurs. The number of teams increases if you include the top 10 picks or the 1st Round… but NOT really. Remember that NBA championships of the past 30 years is an exclusive club of 8 teams. The point of the argument is, racing to the bottom doesn’t guarantee rings.
Winning ultimately takes place in the front office. Thankfully they re-signed Mitch, or Lakers would really resemble the “Len Bias-era” Celtics.
The tank meme on Lakersfanboy.com is annoying, but those are the cards the team ended up with. Lakers weren’t tanking intentionally, they just failed to reach their potential… of a bottom playoff seed… thanks to a rash of injuries (and fucking vertigo!)
Yeah I was just about to say, we got extremely lucky with the Magic and Worthy picks. Magic as compensation for the Gail Goodrich signing and the Don Ford - Chad Kinch trade for James Worthy.
Pretty much all of this. In today’s NBA with destination cities like Miami, LA, Houston being able to attract big free agents and form a Big 3, it’s more important than ever for other teams to build through the draft and intelligent trades. The reason why perennial lottery teams like the Kings and Bucks are still horrible is because they don’t do a good job of developing the talent. That stems from the coaching staff and ownership.
Demarcus Cousins is a shining example. He’s the best big man in the game hands down. There’s no question about that in my mind. However he’s been stuck in a situation the last few years where the team is under horrible ownership and the coaching staff doesn’t know what it’s doing. Under someone like Rivers or Pop, this dude is putting up 30, 15 and 7 every night - he’s that good. I hope he doesn’t end up like Elton Brand - spending his best years on a team going nowhere.
You take a look at the Kings roster over the past few seasons and you’d think they’d at least have been a 7-8 seed at some point.
Bogut out indefinitely with a fractured rib. If he plays anymore, he can get a punctured lung, so they say. Warriors fucked? Also, there’s a chance that they play OKC instead of Clippers, if they continue to fall towards 3rd.
Bad time to lose Bogut. Jermaine O’Neal has been pretty solid overall, but I don’t know how he’d hold up with more minutes in a 7-game series.
oneal is getting exposed in pick and roll. i think it has been exploited so much in the past 2 games for dunks and layups that you can’t depend on him unless he can patch that up
lol.
It sucks to have all these guys who will try to play the 5, Kuzmic, Hilton, Festus, uncle JO, MoSp8s, and Dlee and none of them come close to Bogut’s rim protection. I guess dubs going small ball. Also, Draymond Green over DLee all day everyday please. Can’t stand to watch him trying to guard anything. DLee should come off the bench and do what he does best, body everyone not as good as him and stay away from legit starters.
A lot of important games tomorrow.
Who will be "resting "their starters?
The Lottery game begins tomorrow! 15 games LOL
Charlotte and Washington are gonna go ham…neither of them wants to play the Heat :lol:
Another example of a team built through the draft is Chicago. They got lucky to get Rose and he’s injured, but the fact remains that they made good choices. The problem with teams is that they underestimate the benefit of veteran leadership. Who’s the vet on Cleveland that can talk to the young bucks in the locker room? That’s going to be Philly’s downfall if they don’t do something about it. There’s value in having an 11th or 12th man that hardly plays but nurtures the young talent.
