****2018-2019 Official NBA Regular season thread****

[dirk digler]

Didn't see anybody starting this thread so I guess I will.

Anti climatic season starts tonight and my prediction is GS vs Boston in the NBA Finals.




First 2 Games tonight on TNT with Philly vs Boston and OKC vs GS. Westbrook is out tonight so that game will be a blowout most likely.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Superturtle

Which makes a Harden-CP3-Butler trio all the more hilarious.

Right?

That makes last years Lakers Locker room look positively stable by comparison. At least the Lakers had Lebron who could tell Rondo, Stevenson and Ball to sit down and shut the **** up.

Any of the 3 guys on that team could actively hate each other by December and none of them, not even Harden, have the cache to tell the other 2 to go get their shinebox.

That's a baaaaaaaad idea.

[Sassy Squatch]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

So did I miss news that he actually waived it? I mean, he could change his mind right up until the contract is finally executed, no?

The understanding I've had for a few days is that Davis WILL waive the kicker if it becomes necessary but that he hasn't yet done so (and can't) so there's still no telling if the Lakers can actually close a deal with a max level player.

If there is news that he's actively waived it then I would agree with you, somewhere Rich Paul has put a deal together, knows how things are going to go down and has told him to go ahead and waive the kicker.

I'm going off of this.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...open-max-space

Davis also agreed to waive his $4 million trade bonus, sources said -- which creates the additional space that will allow the Lakers to pursue a max-contract-level free agent, or divide the money among multiple players.

[kcxiv]

I did not think that Davis would wave it! This is awesome news!

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Superturtle

I'm going off of this.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...open-max-space

Davis also agreed to waive his $4 million trade bonus, sources said -- which creates the additional space that will allow the Lakers to pursue a max-contract-level free agent, or divide the money among multiple players.

Hm.

Woj bomb.

Probably means something. Though I'm still not convinced it actually allows them to pursue a 30% max-player if the deal is finalized next week. I think they still have a problem with contract matching but I've only ever had a tenuous understanding of how all that stuff worked together in this deal.

Well if they have that kind of flexibility, now the only concern is that they don't do something really Lakery and chase the shiniest bauble rather than the guy that can most help them win.

Oh, and in this league, spreading your money between roll players almost never works. The 'go sign 3 guys at $10 million' crowd has already forgotten that $26 million got the Lakers Rondo, Stevenson and Caldwell-Pope last year. Roll players are ridiculously overpaid in this league.

Chase stars if you can get 'em. The salary cap and max level deals lead to situations where the true stars are being underpaid. And you know that by the fact that there are a dozen or more teams willing to offer them that max deal. And their existing team max+more. The market is suppressed for star-level players and that combined with the salary floors lead to mid-level players getting WAY overpaid.

So get your stars, LAL. It's the only thing that makes a lick of financial sense under the NBA's cap structure.

[DJ's left nut]

Addendum:

Kept reading - jesus, he got rid of Wagner, Bamba and Jones as well? Lord almighty that team is stripped bare.

Not that I give a shit, all of those guys sucked and I didn't care for the Wagner pick the moment it was made. But still - that's some serious tap-dancing and yeah, that almost has to mean that Davis agreed to waive it and everyone is in play.

Gonna be a nuts offseason.

I still kinda want D-load back though. Gimme him at $25 million with another $6-8 million to play with over Kyrie at $32 million. Sure, Kyries better, but I liked Russell dammit.

[ChiefsCountry]

Sources: LeBron James giving Anthony Davis the No. 23 with Lakers
https://sports.yahoo.com/sources-le-...182527185.html

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by O.city

Nah, Kawhi has already won his. If he wants to go home and be lowkey and win 2 or 3 more and make bank, go for it.

I'd prefer to see them spread out a little, but you pretty much have to have atleast 2 or 3 stars to win anyway so it's whatever.

Dude, he just won one on his own and is the king of an entire country.

Like I said, if he wants to go to LA, go to the Clippers. Going to ring chase in Lebron’s shadow is worse. Why would you go from “King of the North” to being Lebron’s sidekick? Not to mention Lebron has more power in the organization than you do. Kawhi is arguably the better player too but wouldn’t be treated like it. That’s why it makes even less sense. At least KD was clearly the best player on GS.

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I've come to believe that Butler is the kind of guy that NOBODY needs as their Robin.

He just appears to be a monumental prick who deserves to get the max contract on a 25 win team where he can just chase his numbers every night.

I've had a hard turn on Butler over the last 2-3 years. He's just a bizarre guy who manages to be both aloof and combative at the same time. It mostly makes him every 12 year old girl with rich parents that you've ever met. I really do not care for Jimmy Butler these days.

I couldn’t disagree more. I don’t think it’s Butler’s fault that he’s been around some young immature guys. That 76ers team is a huge disappointment without him, and they almost made it all the way with him if it weren’t for Embiid being a brokedick.

[Jerm]

Originally Posted by staylor26

Dude, he just won one on his own and is the king of an entire country.

Like I said, if he wants to go to LA, go to the Clippers. Going to ring chase in Lebron’s shadow is worse. Why would you go from “King of the North” to being Lebron’s sidekick? Not to mention Lebron has more power in the organization than you do. Kawhi is arguably the better player too but wouldn’t be treated like it. That’s why it makes even less sense. At least KD was clearly the best player on GS.

So instead you go to the Clippers and are in the Lakers/LeBron's shadow for years....ok.

Listening to everyone this summer, you'd think everyone is signing with the Clippers.

You really think if Kawhi came to the Lakers LeBron wouldn't differ to him and AD? Of course he would...he'd become the facilitator, it'd add more mileage to his career and be another step in his legacy if he re-invented himself like that.

I'm not saying Kawhi is going to the Lakers but to outright dismiss it is foolish...esp. considering it's Kawhi and NO ONE has a clue as to what he's going to do.

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by Jerm

So instead you go to the Clippers and are in the Lakers/LeBron's shadow for years....ok.

Listening to everyone this summer, you'd think everyone is signing with the Clippers.

You really think if Kawhi came to the Lakers LeBron wouldn't differ to him and AD? Of course he would...he'd become the facilitator, it'd add more mileage to his career and be another step in his legacy if he re-invented himself like that.

I'm not saying Kawhi is going to the Lakers but to outright dismiss it is foolish...esp. considering it's Kawhi and NO ONE has a clue as to what he's going to do.

Umm Kawhi on the Clippers is a contender. They have a good young team and they played damn well against the Warriors, so they wouldn’t have to be in anybody’s shadow. There’s also rumors that he wants Butler to go with him if he does.

And Lebron has never differed to anybody (in the organization period), so I don’t think he’s going to start now.

[Jerm]

Originally Posted by staylor26

Umm Kawhi on the Clippers is a contender. They have a good young team and they played damn well against the Warriors, so they wouldn’t have to be in anybody’s shadow. There’s also rumors that he wants Butler to go with him if he does.

Uh huh, just like every year lol...the Clippers are the Chargers of the NBA.

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by Jerm

Uh huh, just like every year lol...the Clippers are the Chargers of the NBA.

You mean like the Raptors before Kawhi?

They did nothing but underachieve until Kawhi got there, while the Clippers overachieved last year.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by Superturtle

Which makes a Harden-CP3-Butler trio all the more hilarious.

I heard about that the other day and thinking how stupid are the Rockets to give up Tucker, Gordon and Cappella just to get Butler.

If the Lakers are smart they would use the money they have to fill out their roster with good players instead of 1 more max player.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by Jerm

Uh huh, just like every year lol...the Clippers are the Chargers of the NBA.

Do you think Kawhi cares?

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by staylor26

Umm Kawhi on the Clippers is a contender. They have a good young team and they played damn well against the Warriors, so they wouldn’t have to be in anybody’s shadow. There’s also rumors that he wants Butler to go with him if he does.

And Lebron has never differed to anybody (in the organization period), so I don’t think he’s going to start now.

Deferred.

And I think Kawhi to the Clippers makes them better - yes. But Kawhi on the Lakers makes them elite. If he goes to the Clippers and the Lakers get one of the other max level guys instead, he's still going to be 2nd in line behind LAL.

He's taking a huge risk if he goes to the Clippers - notably that Pelinka steps on his dick again and they can't get another premium player in there so they're forced to overpay for role players. At that point the Clippers and Lakers are probably on roughly even footing.

But he can definitively swing the calculus on his own if he just goes to LAL. The 'wants to bring Butler' thing is irrelevant, IMO. Butler's gonna go wherever he gets paid the most and that won't be LAC if they bring in Kawhi.

Someone else had it right though - it's Kawhi Leonard. Trying to act like you have ANY idea what's going on in his head is a fool's errand. That guy's a different cat. He may just !@#$ing like how he looks in purple or something so that's where he goes.