/nba/ general

>you mad Sup Forums? edition

4CH:Celtic fans delusion at all time high.
MIA:Goran Dragic brings home the gold for SLO
MLW:Jason Terry returns to Bucks on one-year deal
DET:Boban Marjanovic scores 18 in his 20 minutes
SAC:Bogdan Bogdanovic drops 24 points in win
SAC:Zach Randolph avoids jail with plea bargain
NY:Kristaps Porzingis drops 34 points in loss
MIA:Goran Dragic scores 26 points w/ eight dimes
MEM:Marc Gasol double-doubles in win over GER
Shabazz Muhammad will re-sign with Minnesota
NO:Tony Allen signing with the Pelicans
DET:SVG: Reggie Jackson will be ready for camp
CHA:Clifford confirms Dwight Howard will start
>ignore all 2k posting**

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=v6Ksdaw3ynE
twitter.com/SFWRedditImages

Can we have someone not diagnosed with autism make the general next time? Also you did it like 10 posts early.

>Being this upset LA is stealing your players

lel i'd rather be diagnosed with autism than being diagnosed with upsetism.

>unironically having a mental disorder

...

New York Knicks

Chicago better be nice to Doncic

>history
>last laker title 2010
>last snake-tic title 2008
>the title that pierce, kg, allen, and rondo literally talk about all th fucking time.
>inb4 you're not a celtics fan.

Lakers haven't been contenders in like 6 years now lmaooooooooooooooooooo

>2010
>acting like that is recent
lmao i don't even remember 2010 jesus that's when i graduated that was forever ago

Who will join Lebron on the Lakers?

PG: Ball
SG: Ingram
SF: Lebron
PF: Nance
C: ???

it seems like C is the hole. I guess they can run Nance at small ball center and go after a PF. Or Lebron at PF, Ingram at SF and go after a SG.

Why would LeBron leave the East to go to the Lakers of all places?

He wants to team up with Durant. Destroys both the Warriors who he can never beat now and sets up the Kyrie and Celtic/Lakers showdown for the finals.

Cousins probably. Watch the Pelicans struggle to hit 7/8 seed, not trading anybody and get swept in the first round. Then pay big bucks to AD and Jrue fucking Holiday until AD leaves in summer of 2021.

Cousins is really dumb. I can't imagine Lebron wanting to play with him.

>you're getting ready to leave the gym after playing pickup with your friends when these guys come up to you talkin bout if you want to join Cleveland basketball.

what do you do?

maybe the worst OP of all time

Sign with Golden State

No way I'm playing with those snakes

Reminder Kyrie Irving alone has more All-Star appearances than the entire Lelkers roster lmaooooooooooooooooooo

If you think that Lebron wants to leave Cleveland - which most people do - the list of places he could go just isn't all that long. The Lakers clearly have the cap space and Lebron lives in LA in the offseason so it's an obvious possibility, and everyone in the media is bros with Magic and he tells them that he thinks Lebron is coming so they just repeat it as gospel.

People overrate how important being in the East is honestly. No matter what conference he's in, he's going to make the playoffs. No matter what conference he's in, he's going to need to beat the Warriors. None of that changes either way.

The East ensures he gets to the finals easily every year, so they don't have to overly push themselves as a team. It allows for 1 more round for someone else to upset the warriors or for them to get an injury.

Staying in the East is basically a free trip to the Finals or at least way easier than the West. Plus a lot of his family still lives in Ohio. A lot of players live in LA in the offseason, that doesn't mean they all go to the Lakers lmao. And teams can easily do trades to clean up some cap space, Cleveland couldn't outright sign LeBron but they cleared some room and were able to. If LeBron wants to sign for a team they'll find a way.

And if he goes to the West and his team beats the Warriors in the WCF, then he's basically guaranteed a win in the finals. I don't think it matters that much when you beat the Warriors.

I don't really have an opinion on whether he's going to the Lakers I'm just outlining the reasons that people think he is.

The ultimate goal should be to not face the full strength Warriors. Playing in the East means the Warriors have 1 more round where they can get injured or just worn down by a stronger team or even get upset. Curry also usually plays worse in the Finals.

Meanwhile Lebron in the East has 3 relatively easy rounds where he can get plenty of rest in 4th quarters and between rounds.

If you can't understand this basic math involved here, I can't help you.

Assuming that he's going to leave Cleveland, where's he going to go? He's not going to Boston or Golden State. Washington and the Clippers are super capped out and I don't see how they're going to make a trade that gets them the cap space while still being competitive. Same with Miami after all the extensions they handed out plus the FO relationship would be super weird going back.

Milwaukee, Toronto, Indiana, and Charlotte are all too small or Canadian markets and same with OKC, Denver, Utah, Portland, Sacramento and Minny. Philly is probably too young although maybe you could have them on the list. Detroit is in cap hell and shitty. Atlanta, Brooklyn, Chicago, Phoenix and Orlando suck too much ass. New orleans and Memphis are bad and capped out and small market.

So that basically leaves the Knicks, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, and the Lakers. And every one of those places has real issues. The Knicks aren't that good and haven't been good in a couple years and have an awful ownership situation. Houston and San Antonio would have serious cap issues - San Antonio would need to deal LMA and/or Gasol, which wouldn't necessarily be easy, and Houston would need someone to take a pay cut if they wanted to keep both Harden and CP3. Dallas has Mark Cuban's awkward ass, and also isn't really that good yet. And the Lakers, similarly, aren't a good team right now and are really young. And if you want Philly on the list, they're just as young as the Lakers and play in a smaller market.

personally I think the most likely destination is San Antonio or Houston but any possible destination has issues.

I kind of ignored that part of the post because I don't think that Lebron is ever going to go into the season with the goal of hoping the Warriors get injured. I think Lebron has to believe that he's capable of beating the Warriors even at fullstrength if he's on the right team, and i don't think that's a particularly crazy belief.

And second, I kind of feel like if you are concentrating on hoping for an injury, the difference in odds between the Warriors having played 12 playoff games and having played 16 or 17 playoff games is just pretty marginal. The advantage exists but I think, if I were Lebron, and I was trying to maximize my chances of beating the Warriors, I would rather be on a better team in the West than on a worse team in the East.

Yeah, LeBron has his way of playing ball. 1 shooting big man and 1 rebounding/defender. They could keep Brook Lopez, but that means only 1 other max contract (would have to waive Lopez, KCP, Brewer, and possibly Randle to have enough cap for 2 max players). Looking at next year's center FAs, there's not much. Greg Monroe, Nerlens Noel, and Jusuf Nurkic are the only options and Nurkic will probably be kept by Portland. Outside chance of Capela, but Houston can't afford to lose him.

If LeBron leaves Cleveland, he is not doing it for the sportive perspective, it's to build his marketing connections. Therefore, if he is leaving the Cavs, he is joining one of the LA teams.

Lakers only have to get rid of Deng and they are basically a clean slate to build the team how Lebron wants. 76ers are in a similar situation. In those cases, you use the younger players as trade pieces to get 2 veteran stars.

Rockets are the most intriguing since the path to a contender is more obvious since they already have the 2 stars. They have a serious issue of having to remove Anderson and Gordon's contracts with too few trade pieces.

Aldridge is probably easy to move since it will be expiring. Gasol would be tough unless he plays really well. Spurs are built more for the 2019 FA.

what am i looking at? its making my eyes hurt. also u forgot curry

they play the same position u nig nog

Both are capable of playing PF as well.

I think it's possible that he might care about basketball and also about his brand. And I don't know if it's necessarily true that Cleveland is going to be the best option basketball-wise going forward.

but like... to have a true championship contender, you need more than 3 good basketball players. and it's not like you can just snap your fingers and solve those problems. With LA or Philly, if Lebron wanted to go to those teams, I could see those teams getting 1 other max player, plus a few ring-chasing veterans. But they would still have to get a lot of contributions from other players who are on the team right now. And those players are mostly really young and untested.

All the stupid Lakers fan shit about how they're going to sign Lebron, plus Paul George, and Westbrook, and Boogie is just delusional.

Whoever made the OP please never do it again, on behalf of all /nba/. Thanks.

Imagine giving a max contract to this guy

>And the Lakers, similarly, aren't a good team right now
fight me.

they're fucking shit, my dude. They added a rookie PG, and two dudes who couldn't make the playoffs in the East last year.

>Lebron
>needing to make marketing connections

LMAO the shit Lakers fans come up with. It's Lebron, he's has the top marketing connections for years now. I mean come on, the dude has a literal billion dollar contract from Nike

This. If Lebron gave a fuck about marketing he wouldn't have returned to probably the poorest city to have an NBA team.

turn 360 degrees and walk away

>If Lebron gave a fuck about marketing he wouldn't have returned to probably the poorest city to have an NBA team.
Coming back to be the hometown hero isn't marketing? Come on, he knew had to get one for "da land" to help complete his brand image.

Lakers fans have shitted on Lebron his whole career because comparisons with Kobe and all of a sudden they want him? What happened to muh 3-5??

The real big market for Lebron is New York and everyone knows this.

>tfw lebron joins OKC with bestbrook and rated E for everyone

I'm scared for the Spurs T B H. Nothing big happened in the offseason, TP is still in recovery, I'm unsure about Aldridge, Simmons left, and on top of that the top western teams made some serious power moves like PG13 to OKC, CP3 to Houston, and GS staying the same but getting better.

They'd have to find a way to dump Noah and Courtney Lee, which might be tricky. It would be a lot easier for them if they hadn't signed Hardaway.

spurs win without kawhi, i'm sure they can win without tony.

>hakeem: small ball won't eliminate big men, just the outdated idea of positions
HAHAHAHAHHAHAA /nba/ IS WRONG AGAIN KEEP TRYING TO COME @ MY CELTIES AND GET PROVEN WRONG AS ALWAYS LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

>Cowherd has devolved into a larry clone
What went wrong?

Westbrook isn't a top 5 player

Curry, Durant, Klay, Draymond, Iguodala

this checks out

>Trade Clarkson + deng contract plus future 2nd rounder for melo
>sign dwade to a 2 year vet minny after buyout
>play out the year gelling, and developing ball/ingram.
>2018 comes around
>sign lebron, pg, and westbrook (pay-cuts to troll the league)
>resign lopez with peanuts
>sign a ring chasing reddick on a vet minimum of FA

your new Los Angeles Lakers ladies and nerd-tlemen:

Westbrook/Ball
Melo/Wade/KCP/reddick
George/Ingram/Kuzma
Lebron/Randle/Nance
Lopez/Zubac/T.Bryant

it's all habbening.

>sign lebron, pg, and westbrook (pay-cuts to troll the league)

it's good that made it obvious which part of this is insane masturbation fantasy

Why do you assume you can sign old people to vets? Wade had a chance of joining the Cavs but he wanted more money than what they we giving. Some people don't know their worth

Colin IS Larry

i forgot to add that we will be signing stephon marbury winning a bidding war against houston.

because the magnitude this team will have on the league will be special. they all will be willing to sign for that low, the older you get the more it becomes about legacy. so yeah. wade will have no prob setting the team up ready for lebrons homecoming.

Is Kevin Durant currently the best player in the world?

This team's record?
PG: John Stockton
SG: MJ
SF: Kobe (yes)
PF: Dennis Rodman
C: Shaq
6: Ray Allen
7: Lonzo
8: Manu
9: Iggy
10: Kevin Love
11: Kristaps
12: Robert Horry
13: Isaiah Rider

0-0

They would win the first 30 games and then MJ, Kobe, Rodman, Shaq, and Ray Allen would all murder each other

It's a transition year for them. Aldridge is the first to person that needs to go. Spurs just waiting for TP and Manu to finally retire. Danny Green as a D&sometimes3 guy at $10 million is a bargain, but could see a raise. Need Murray to develop. Probably another 50 win season and bounced in the 2nd round unless Kawhi goes MJ mode and the rest of the team comes together.

My TOP 5 Centers in the NBA history:

1. Hakeem Olajuwon
2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
3. Shaquille O'neal
4. Wilt Chamberlain
5. Bill Russel

Do you?

So the plan is just to take another swing through at signing big-name FAs?

Is Klay Thompson already better than or equal to Ray Allen in terms of 3PT shooting?

What about a team of betas?

PG: Lebron
SG: TMac (career average, not that 1 month he was GOAT)
SF: Durant
PF: Malone
C: Duncan

Kyrie Irving is...

It's kinda odd because unless Kawhi gets "injured" there's no way they can get a high impact rookie. They've been picking near the end of the first round for well over 15 years. Literally last lottery pick was Tim Duncan. Rudy Gobert was literally perfect for the team and Utah snagged him 1 pick in front.

Right guys, wrong order.

1 Kareem 2 Wilt 3 Hakeem 4 Shaq 5 Russell

His last seasons have been as good as Ray Allen's peak, but obviously he has nowhere near the longevity yet.

This team is way better than the other one to me. But this is probably mostly a Rorschach test about how you feel about basketball generally.

...

That's how it is u get 1 ring now KD the best in the world? Dude not even good enough to carry last year thunder alone and that's because he a elite scorer good rebounder and clutch but no were near the playmaker Russ is....

I've never really been a fan of KD. Honestly, only season I actually enjoyed watching him play was 2014. Dude is just boring to me.

...

With the 2nd round pick, by way of the Denver Nuggets, the Los Angeles Lakers select...

jelo is also the cute one

I read this on Twitter, and it is true.
Warriors' otherwordly dominance has underrated how good the Cavs were from 2015-2017.

Wow

George at SF, Lebron at PF.
Nance comes off the bench to play PF and C.
Zubac at C.

Crazy how one moment can change people's entire opinion of you as a player.
Kyrie hit the shot, G7 2016 Finals: "Kyrie is better than Curry"

KD hits the shot, G3 2017 finals: "KD is now the best player in the world"

David Robinson wins MVP 1995: "David Robinson is better than Hakeem, Hakeem is overrated"

Dwyane Wade suffers multiple injuries from 2012-2014: "Dwyane Wade is a bum, LeBron carries that team to the finals every year"

Ray Allen hits the shot, G6 2013 Finals: "Ray Allen is the most clutch player of all time"

Westbrook averaged triple double 2017 season: "Russell Westbrook is the best point guard in the NBA"

Swayed so easily

Hakeem does one move on David Robinson that's also a traveling violation: "Hakeem is GOAT omg"

You forgot one:
>Steph Curry chucks a bunch of 3's: "He could be better than Michael Jordan"

Gelo ain't gonna do shit. But that's ok, he can be /ourguy/ like Okafor or John Wall.

David Robinson was so fucking bad in the playoffs through his whole career. The guy was a total, total fraud.

Please tell me how you know so much about Dwyane Wades personal life and feelings

>Travel
Learn about pivoting and establishing my man

Difference between a star and a superstar ?

Sooo...clutch, killer instinct and rings make Kobe > LeBron?

Just checking because that's what all the former and current players say.

If you went back to 2012 and told someone one of these facts, which would have been the most surprising?

A: The currently 23-43 Warriors would break the Bulls' all time win record, win 2 championships in 3 years, featuring the oft injured Stephen Curry winning 2 MVPs and entering the greatest PGs of all time conversation.
B: The Oklahoma City Thunder, featuring a 22 year old KD, Harden, and Westbrook, already peaked.
C: LeBron returns to Cleveland and won them a championship by coming back from a 3-1 deficit against a 73 win team.
D: Donald Trump is the next president.
E: Russell Westbrook breaks Roberson's triple double record en route to averaging 32-10-11 and winning MVP.

6 for 24

>youtube.com/watch?v=v6Ksdaw3ynE

the whole video + 1:25, thats where the PG Westbrook comes in. Wade + KCP is lebron bait. It's, how we say here in /nba/, OGRE..

This is my swamp now Zealand, you're just a donkeh living in it.

Superstars are stars that are marketable and popular players

A and D are several orders of magnitude more surprising than any of the others.

That a 73-9 team up 3-1 in the Finals can lose

That team would literally blow itself up from internal conflict before it got anywhere.

KCP is on a 1-year deal.

You're the donkey.

Shoe deal and PPG

I GOT TWO PHONES

Fans will completely ignore that a player had their best shooting year,
ignore that they scored less because they shot less,
ignore that when you come in the game after sitting 2 quarters(1 hour real time) you might be cold,
and completely dismiss all the work you put into a season based on one bad shot or series.....
This is true. Fans will act like youre a bum and ignore everything that went on in a season based one moment or stretch of games.

is that kodak gram?
is that 21 grammage?
is that lil uzi gram?
is that drake?

he needs to go back to the old hair, those mini turds are a shit hairstyle. should rock the lamelo ball.