Topic: NBA Thread: Brought To You By The Tampa Bay Raptors Of Toronto

[nickmitch]

Isn't travel a factor as well? You minimize coast-to-coast trips during the first few rounds, and the wear and tear that comes with them, saving it for the finals when you can kind of stretch the time a little more.

Edit: Looking at BNM's example, imagine the Celtics having to go back and forth to Portland, then potentially face the number 1 seed, then perhaps having to travel to LA (a possibility!) for the semi-finals, and then having to keep flying to the west coast to face the Warriors!  That's way too much travel.

[BeautifulShy]

I have been watching the Lakers all this season and the Lakers had to win tonight versus the Clippers to still be mathematically still in the playoff chase. They didn't win tonight.   This season has been frustrating to watch. From the early suspension of Rondo and Ingram versus the Rockets, to the 2-5 start, to the early 4 seed, then LeBron suffering his worst injury of his career and being out 18 games, those losses to tanking teams before the All-Star break, the trade deadline  and then finally these past 3 games versus the Bucks, Suns and Clips.    It has just been tiring to watch going from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows.     

I will say that Lonzo when healthy is the key to unlocking this offense and a very good perimeter defender.  Kuzma I was very happy to see him develop a bit more consistency with his 3s.
Ingram finally figured out how to use his length and size to read opposing passes and on the offensive end as well.
Hart well he gives lots of heart to hustle and defense and his 3 is getting better.

I will say I think chemistry has been a problem all season. Part of that is the injuries and other times I think a bit just finding ones role within the team. The trade deadline pretty much doomed what chemistry there was.    I think next season there needs to be more depth,3 point shooters, consistency at the free throw line. 


As to the other team I sometimes watch here in Phoenix. The Suns.  Well they have some okay pieces around Booker and Aiton but they need a passing PG.   They have as of tonight the 2nd worst record in the league. Those 2 wins versus the Lakers and the Bucks brought them out of the worst record in the league.  If they do get the number 1 pick then obviously it would be Zion and find a PG in free agency. If they drop to 2 then Ja Morant is the choice definitely.

[Adrock]

The Lakers never should have let Julius Randle walk, but they were too busy shitting in Aaron Mintz’s mouth to realize this (Mintz is the agent for Randle, D’Angelo Russell, and Paul George). Randle was arguably the Lakers best player last year and would have been the second or third best player this year. He was already a decent trade asset and would have played himself into being an even better one too if his performance this season is anything to go by so if they wanted to unload him, it wouldn’t have been difficult. The Lakers wanted total flexibility by having cap space for a 10-year max contract without needing to make moves to get there. I mean, I get it as other teams couldn’t hold that over the Lakers. It’s still poor asset management. Keep the assets you have then deal with making the numbers work later.

Keeping Randle as a mostly small ball center would have solved so many problems this year. Hindsight is 20/20. The Lakers should have overpaid him (and posssibly groveled a little to Mintz) to get to sign a one and one with or without the team option. Trading Ivica Zubac for nothing was also asinine. This team better hope they get one of Kevin Durant/Kawhi Leonard/Kyrie Irving or none of this will have been worth it.

[nickmitch]

The Lakers just beat the Celtics after being down 18 points in the first half. They set a franchise high for three pointers made (22). So, right now, Demps’ trolling worked for one game.

Gotta play the long game, even if it costs you your job.

[BeautifulShy]

So I was pretty surprised how the Suns have gone on a winning streak since beating the Lakers.   They beat the Bucks and tonight they beat the 2 time champs the Warriors.  I am happy to see the growth from them lately. 

The Lakers on the other hand has been bitten by the injury bug with Lonzo most likely not going to play for the rest of the season, Ingram suffering from a blood clot and it is season ending and Hart is still suffering from knee issues.  It has gotten so bad the past few games they had to go with their G League players in some parts of games. 

[BlackNMild2k1]

Lakers are in active TANK MODE. Lebron and Magic have put in the call, and we'll see how the Lakers some how get a Top 2 pick in the draft.
Lonzo and Ingram are both benched for the rest of the season, and Lebron is on minutes restriction.
They not trying to win any more games.

Suns somehow beat the Dubs last time we played too... I was at the game tonight. it was LOW energy the entire night. from the team to the crowd. We took this as a scheduled W and ended up with an L that really doesn't matter (in the moment) as we still have the 1 seed... for now.
Still disappointing, and all the more reasoning why they should switch to a 1-16 seed ranking (to hell with the travel, deal with it.)

[Adrock]

Ball and Ingram are injured. Ball was never coming back in six to eight weeks with a grade three ankle sprain. It was probably closer to ten weeks which would be end of March. Sure, he could come back, but why? Ingram is not even allowed to play per league rules because he’s on blood thinners due to DVT (deep vein thrombosis). Blood thinning medicine is the same reason Chris Bosh was forced into early retirement. That doesn’t mean Ingram’s career is over. It may be an isolated incident rather than an on-going condition.

Injuries disrupted any chemistry and rhythm the team had. You can call it “tanking” but also, the team isn’t very good. Tanking implies intentionally trying to lose games. Even when James wasn’t on minutes restriction, the Lakers were bad (James was also playing too much for his age). If a team is bad, they’re usually just losing because other teams are better than them. I hope the Lakers win the lottery because that would be hilarious. The Cavs (via the Clippers pick that landed them Mo Williams) had a 2.8% chance of landing the top pick which they used to draft Kyrie Irving.

[nickmitch]

I agree with Adrock. Bad teams can't tank by virtue of them being bad.

I made a promise not to call the draft lottery rigged after the Hornets Pelicans got the pick to draft AD, but that era is over.  I fully expect the Lakers to get a decent pick.

Still disappointing, and all the more reasoning why they should switch to a 1-16 seed ranking (to hell with the travel, deal with it.)

I think the extra travel would also impact the game/TV schedule.  Players would need an extra rest day or two between the games if they're in back-to-back coast-to-coast series.  This would make the playoffs would probably end in like August or something.  Ok, probably not that late, but maybe like another 2 weeks.

[BeautifulShy]

Well as of tonight versus the Brooklyn Nets the Lakers are eliminated mathematically from playoff contention.  I guess it would be fitting that Dlo would eliminate the Lakers after shipping him to the Nets 2 seasons ago when they didn't need to. 

Really the only thing worth looking to is July for free agency and the draft. Currently for the draft they have the 10th pick. Hopefully they can get up to the 8th pick so they have a 26.3% of getting into the top 4.
http://www.tankathon.com/

[BlackNMild2k1]

Now if only the kings will get their **** together and start winning games, maybe they can bump the Spurs out of the Playoffs, and we can have 3 Cali teams in the race, only eliminating the Lakers. LOL

At least now Lebron can go focus on Space Jam 2
but I still hope we get a Curry30 cameo. LOL

[BlackNMild2k1]

HOLY **** **NSFL WARNING**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvolan-diXY

Yusif Nurkic breaks his leg... just above the ankle. you can hear the snap, it folds back.
and then... and then... the ref kicks him in his flopped foot while stepping over him.

OMG, that was horrific. Watch at your own risk, especially if you have the audio on.

[broodwars]

HOLY **** **NSFL WARNING**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvolan-diXY

Yusif Nurkic breaks his leg... just above the ankle. you can hear the snap, it folds back.
and then... and then... the ref kicks him in his flopped foot while stepping over him.

OMG, that was horrific. Watch at your own risk, especially if you have the audio on.

Well, that's unfortunate. You never like to see a player go down with that kind of injury.

On the other hand, the Blazers are probably the Jazz's 1st Round Opponent, and we've had our own issues with injuries this year so it's beneficial for us.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Even worse than the player going down is the dumbass bonehead Ref who kicks his foot on the broken leg, trying to step over him like AI did to Ty Lue. That's some unexcusable bullshit.

The other Ref had to point out that there was a man down, and the first ref looked completely unaware that anything was wrong.
talk about reinforcing stereotypes. How blind can a ref be!? WTF.
there should be a fine for that, suspension maybe, possibly firing? combination of the 1st 2 at the very least.

[nickmitch]

That break was awful to look at.

And yeah, the ref should at least be aware enough to walk around a player on the ground.  And I'm not sure if it's their job, but if a player doesn't get up right away, a quick eye scan for apparent injury should be easy enough to do.

But I guess that's one less obstacle for the Warriors.

[BlackNMild2k1]

2019 Playoffs are set.



Portland beating the Kings today fucked up my bracket choices, as it moved Portland up to 3rd, and Houston down to 4th, which means now OKC doesn't face the Rockets and Utah doesn't face Portland.

That potentially puts us against the Rockets in the 2nd round instead of the WCF... if only we dropped to the 2nd seed. LOL (The Kings let me down today, all they had to do was beat POR)

anyone care to make their 1st round prediction?

Winner & how many games it takes:

edit: Oh, and almost forgot to mention Magic Johnson quit in fashion from the Lakers. Didn't even tell the owner before hand, just held a press conference an admitted defeat and failure.

DWade and Dirk both played their last games this week.
Crowd in Miami actually burst out in "Paul Pierce Sucks!!" chants during Wade's last home game.
(Paul Pierce was asked who had a better carreer or was a better player, PP had nothing nice to say about DWade and instead talked himself up like it was the singularly obvious choice to make.)
DWade also went out on a Triple Double tonight

[BeautifulShy]

Lets see the first round... Warriors in 5, Rockets in 6, Thunder in 6, Nuggets in 5.  Bucks in 4, Celtics in 5, 76ers in 6, Raptors in 4.

[broodwars]

Lets see the first round... Warriors in 5, Rockets in 6, Thunder in 6, Nuggets in 5.  Bucks in 4, Celtics in 5, 76ers in 6, Raptors in 4.

Honestly, I'd like to think the Jazz could pull off an upset in 7, but the NBA doesn't allow anyone to be within 10 feet of James Harden, so overall those predictions sound about right to me. -_-

[Adrock]

Predictions:
Warriors in 4
Jazz in 6
Blazers in 6
Nuggets in 6
Bucks in 4
Pacers in 6
Sixers in 5
Raptors in 5

Oh, and almost forgot to mention Magic Johnson quit in fashion from the Lakers. Didn't even tell the owner before hand, just held a press conference an admitted defeat and failure.

That’s one way of framing it. Another is he’s really close with Jeanie Buss, and if he told her, she would have convinced him to stay which is actually not what’s best for the team. I’m no Magic Johnson stan. Defeat and failure are both accurate. Not telling the owner wasn’t really quitting in fashion though. It wasn’t some final **** you. If anything, it was kind of cowardly.

This whole situation is kooky. Buss brought in people she could trust (understandable after her brother attempted a coup), not people who necessarily knew what they were doing. Rob Pelinka is Kobe Bryant’s former agent who apparently most teams hate. Magic Johnson was never around. He apparently wanted to fire both Luke Walton and Pelinka, but Buss refused out of loyalty for people within the “Lakers family.” [insert air jerking motion here]

[nickmitch]

Warriors in 5
Houston in 6
OKC in 6
Denver in 4
Bucks in 4
Celtics in 5
76ers in 5
Raptors in 6

It's crazy how terrible the Lakers are as an organization currently.  LeBron should've gone to the Clippers if he wanted to be in LA so bad.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Oh, and almost forgot to mention Magic Johnson quit in fashion from the Lakers. Didn't even tell the owner before hand, just held a press conference an admitted defeat and failure.

That’s one way of framing it. Another is he’s really close with Jeanie Buss, and if he told her, she would have convinced him to stay which is actually not what’s best for the team. I’m no Magic Johnson stan. Defeat and failure are both accurate. Not telling the owner wasn’t really quitting in fashion though. It wasn’t some final **** you. If anything, it was kind of cowardly.

This whole situation is kooky. Buss brought in people she could trust (understandable after her brother attempted a coup), not people who necessarily knew what they were doing. Rob Pelinka is Kobe Bryant’s former agent who apparently most teams hate. Magic Johnson was never around. He apparently wanted to fire both Luke Walton and Pelinka, but Buss refused out of loyalty for people within the “Lakers family.” [insert air jerking motion here]

by "in fashion" I really meant in "Cowardice"
he made a spectacle of it because like you said, he couldn't do it any other way.

It's crazy how terrible the Lakers are as an organization currently.  LeBron should've gone to the Clippers if he wanted to be in LA so bad.

^^This is the truth. Jerry West - "MS Money" Ballmer - new Stadium incoming - no championship (I think)
And if he wanted to stay in the East.... he be back at the top if he joined the 76ers.

either way, at least he'd be in the playoffs. LOL

[BeautifulShy]

Okay I am not going to let everyone diss the Lakers like this.
First of all he LeBron in part moved to LA for his family. He really liked what they had in the young core and the cap space they had in Lonzo, Ingram, Kuzma and Hart. He also said he does want to win championships but for the Lakers because of the history of the franchise. He also said recently that he wants his jersey lifted up in the rafters.

[nickmitch]

A young core is cool, but it still doesn't mean they're a well run team.  Clippers have hands down the better coach.  Then, Magic basically got called out for not going to work or doing anything as president.  He probably should've been asked to leave sooner so they could put someone more effective in the position.

The Anthony Davis trade botch job was not really The Lakers' fault, so I won't ding them on that, but it does make them look like a comedy of errors.

[Adrock]

Okay I am not going to let everyone diss the Lakers like this.
First of all he LeBron in part moved to LA for his family. He really liked what they had in the young core and the cap space they had in Lonzo, Ingram, Kuzma and Hart. He also said he does want to win championships but for the Lakers because of the history of the franchise. He also said recently that he wants his jersey lifted up in the rafters.

The Lakers are my team. I’ll diss them when I feel it’s appropriate. Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka’s tenure started off pretty well. They managed to get a pick for Lou Williams which they ultimately traded to draft Josh Hart. I didn’t love the D’Angelo Russell trade, but I understood it. We also can’t dismiss what a change of scenery can do for a player so I won’t hold Russell’s rise in Brooklyn against Johnson/Pelinka. Letting Julius Randle walk despite the coaching staff insisting the front office re-sign him was hilariously bad team management. It’s defensible (no Randle means max cap space) but still a worse move. If Randle was on the roster around the trade deadline, the Lakers could have included him in the Anthony Davis trade. Maybe that gets the deal done, maybe it doesn’t. Cutting Thomas Bryant made no sense since he was getting paid rookie minimum wage. Trading Ivica Zubac for *shrug emoji* was just fucking asinine. Last summer’s signings were interesting. They zagged when everyone else zigged. It didn’t work out, but there was a method to that madness.

Jeanie Buss needs to hire the right people, those who know basketball from the management side of the negotiating table. Former Cavs General Manager interviewed for the Pelicans job. I’d bet he’d rather be in Los Angeles. Hire him as President of Basketball Operations and give him full autonomy because he’s proven he can build a championship team, particularly with LeBron James. Chances are he fires Pelinka and keeps Walton. Personally, I’d keep Walton but revamp his staff. Fewer dude-bros, more basketball minds.

[Adrock]

Lakers fires Luke Walton. Rob Pelinka is apparently in charge of the head coach search. Fine.

Hire a President of Basketball Operations then do other stuff. This isn’t difficult.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Lakers fires Luke Walton. Rob Pelinka is apparently in charge of the head coach search. Fine.

Hire a President of Basketball Operations then do other stuff. This isn’t difficult.

No, I want to see the next PBO fire Pelinka and then also fire his coach as well.

But rumor is that Lakers are looking at Ty Lue for the next Head Coach position.... smh.
Let the **** show in land of LAL continue.

It's also very likely that Luke Walton will be hired on as Head Coach of the Kings for next season.