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**
Can we have someone not diagnosed with autism make the general next time? Also you did it like 10 posts early.
Joseph Hall
>Being this upset LA is stealing your players
Nolan Gutierrez
lel i'd rather be diagnosed with autism than being diagnosed with upsetism.
Charles Sullivan
>unironically having a mental disorder
Gabriel Torres
...
Jayden Hernandez
New York Knicks
Juan Peterson
Chicago better be nice to Doncic
Mason Stewart
>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.
Noah Wood
Lakers haven't been contenders in like 6 years now lmaooooooooooooooooooo
Austin Jones
>2010 >acting like that is recent lmao i don't even remember 2010 jesus that's when i graduated that was forever ago
Chase Powell
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.
Joseph Cooper
Why would LeBron leave the East to go to the Lakers of all places?
Matthew Gonzalez
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.
Jackson Brooks
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.
Thomas Bennett
Cousins is really dumb. I can't imagine Lebron wanting to play with him.
Aaron Lopez
>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?
Carter Peterson
maybe the worst OP of all time
Jordan James
Sign with Golden State
Colton Nelson
No way I'm playing with those snakes
Aaron Walker
Reminder Kyrie Irving alone has more All-Star appearances than the entire Lelkers roster lmaooooooooooooooooooo
Joseph Adams
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.
Gabriel Richardson
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.
Easton Morris
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.
Ethan Brown
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.
Wyatt Russell
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.
Ethan Smith
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.
Charles Ortiz
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.
Robert Miller
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.
Luis Edwards
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.
Jaxon White
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.
Bentley Hall
what am i looking at? its making my eyes hurt. also u forgot curry
Benjamin Clark
they play the same position u nig nog
Jason Howard
Both are capable of playing PF as well.
Jose Ramirez
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.
Anthony Perez
Whoever made the OP please never do it again, on behalf of all /nba/. Thanks.
Blake Wood
Imagine giving a max contract to this guy
Dominic Ortiz
>And the Lakers, similarly, aren't a good team right now fight me.
Dylan Bailey
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.
Jaxson Brown
>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
Dylan Allen
This. If Lebron gave a fuck about marketing he wouldn't have returned to probably the poorest city to have an NBA team.
Adrian Howard
turn 360 degrees and walk away
Adrian Reed
>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.
Chase Phillips
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.
Jackson Reed
>tfw lebron joins OKC with bestbrook and rated E for everyone
Thomas Williams
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.
Angel Evans
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.
Evan Flores
spurs win without kawhi, i'm sure they can win without tony.
Xavier Jenkins
>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
Jordan Diaz
>Cowherd has devolved into a larry clone What went wrong?
Hudson Hill
Westbrook isn't a top 5 player
Jayden James
Curry, Durant, Klay, Draymond, Iguodala
this checks out
Isaiah Bell
>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:
>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
Blake Garcia
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
Alexander Diaz
Colin IS Larry
David Martin
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.
Blake Anderson
Is Kevin Durant currently the best player in the world?
Charles Reed
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
Elijah Morales
0-0
John Martin
They would win the first 30 games and then MJ, Kobe, Rodman, Shaq, and Ray Allen would all murder each other
Hunter Long
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.
So the plan is just to take another swing through at signing big-name FAs?
Jonathan Garcia
Is Klay Thompson already better than or equal to Ray Allen in terms of 3PT shooting?
James Lopez
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
Jose Cooper
Kyrie Irving is...
Parker Gray
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.
Easton Morris
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.
Lincoln Davis
...
Evan Kelly
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....
Ryder Hernandez
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.
Ryan Lopez
...
Brody Young
With the 2nd round pick, by way of the Denver Nuggets, the Los Angeles Lakers select...
Grayson Garcia
jelo is also the cute one
Xavier Sanchez
I read this on Twitter, and it is true. Warriors' otherwordly dominance has underrated how good the Cavs were from 2015-2017.
Samuel Wright
Wow
Colton Gonzalez
George at SF, Lebron at PF. Nance comes off the bench to play PF and C. Zubac at C.
Anthony Scott
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
Kevin Collins
Hakeem does one move on David Robinson that's also a traveling violation: "Hakeem is GOAT omg"
Christian Morales
You forgot one: >Steph Curry chucks a bunch of 3's: "He could be better than Michael Jordan"
Jayden Reed
Gelo ain't gonna do shit. But that's ok, he can be /ourguy/ like Okafor or John Wall.
Gabriel Barnes
David Robinson was so fucking bad in the playoffs through his whole career. The guy was a total, total fraud.
Nathan Rodriguez
Please tell me how you know so much about Dwyane Wades personal life and feelings
Ethan Howard
>Travel Learn about pivoting and establishing my man
Nathan Murphy
Difference between a star and a superstar ?
Connor Murphy
Sooo...clutch, killer instinct and rings make Kobe > LeBron?
Just checking because that's what all the former and current players say.
William Campbell
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.
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.
Henry Cox
Superstars are stars that are marketable and popular players
David Lee
A and D are several orders of magnitude more surprising than any of the others.
Michael Morris
That a 73-9 team up 3-1 in the Finals can lose
Robert Ortiz
That team would literally blow itself up from internal conflict before it got anywhere.
Easton Hill
KCP is on a 1-year deal.
You're the donkey.
William James
Shoe deal and PPG
Dominic Young
I GOT TWO PHONES
Joshua Brown
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.
Jeremiah Nelson
is that kodak gram? is that 21 grammage? is that lil uzi gram? is that drake?
Joseph Williams
he needs to go back to the old hair, those mini turds are a shit hairstyle. should rock the lamelo ball.