Topic: 2019 NBA Pre-Season - page 1113. (Read 920217 times)

I agree. They look good during regular season, but they fall off during playoffs. Considering they have low winning percentage against top team, they still have lots of building to do to be considered a championship team. They are on the right track though. Maybe a year or two and a few key players will do the trick. Let's watch out how they will fare this season.

The raptors got lucky. They had a lucky shot against the sixers on their game seven and they play against injury-riddled Warriors in the finals. They have persistent and their teams are veterans with Kawhi leading the team. You cannot say that to the Bulls team.

Despite having Leonard, they are still not the favorite to win the championship.

Here are the odds that time.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2821542-2019-nba-championship-odds-warriors-raptors-celtics-favored-after-break

You see, they should be at least close to the Warriors if they are a championship team.

But the Raptors has Kawhi that time, and we have Warriors players getting injured. So I would say that Raptors is a caliber already, but not be by definition, a championship team, but still with Kawhi and Lowry and Siakam they are not to be overlook.

But I agree that DeRozan has found a home in the Bulls, early in the season, they lead the East with DeRozan hitting back to back winners if my memory serves me right. But then again, they suffered injuries, causing them to go down in rankings and then losing in the first round.

DeRozan is having his best season with the Chicago Bulls, he will continue next season, with the experience they had last season, they will be more mature and maybe they are not a championship team but who knows a surprise might happen. Remember when the Raptors won a championship, they are not a championship team but they beat the Warriors.

I might disagree with your idea that the Chicago Bulls roster is already can consider a championship team.

They have a good run last season, surprising everyone with their good chemistry right at the start of the season but began to show inconsistency during the last phase of the season. I am positive about this young team but believe me, even if they stay healthy last season, their chance to advance to Finals is really slim. They will soon get their own recognition but not at that time.

Not just to stay healthy but the Bulls need to build a second squad that can consistently assist their main core, especially in the event of continuous injuries. They are already composed of good role players and what they need to do is to add some more.

There are lots of precious role players that are just there waiting to be utilized properly by a team.

Bulls will now have a veteran and a good point guard, an experience Dragic will definitely help the team. Their roster IMO is already a championship team, if they were only healthy last season, they have a chance to advance, so hopefully in the coming season, as their chemistry gets stronger, being healthy will definitely help them to be a championship team.

Based on the stats, he only has an average of 7.3 PPG last season, not good since he was averaging double digits in his previous teams like Miami and Phoenix.

Here is the detailed possible trade.
https://nba.nbcsports.com/2022/08/05/report-lakers-knicks-jazz-talked-massive-westbrook-mitchell-trade/
"Significant Draft pick compensation"
This is going to hurt them in the future while Jazz is on the move to rebuilding.
What could Danny Ainge be thinking? Sacrificing the queen and knights for a checkmate? Could the aim be a small ball roster as recent top contenders and even the champion are mostly playing fast type?
I guess they are done with centers being their focus as they only have 1 left in their roster and that's Azubuike.

Correct me but that isn't the definition of a team. Prioritizing on isolation plays and not on team strategy? Now we are seeing why they didn't even got a win against the Celtics last season and they got defeated by the Bucks 2 seasons ago. I don't know what's the problem with them. Is it the players? Is it their coach who technically is inexperienced or the management but overall, I don't like their style that they are more focused on individual performance rather than helping as a team. Just look at the Warriors. They have 4 titles all because of their chemistry and how they play as a team.

Now with regards to Dragic, I believe that he will still be given near 20 MPG there and at the same time, he will help those young players to develop even further. They are the team that surprised me at the start of the season last year because of how good they are as a team and they even reached the top spot IIRC but because of injuries, they slowly fell down in the standings. I hope that they will not get injured this upcoming season (though it's inevitable) and their new players will help the team in their own way.

For me, he really needs to put little muscles maybe a Stephen Curry Physique, but in time who knows, when his maturity hits and if he trains even harder, I think those muscles will come out naturally, and his biggest asset really was his height but it is not really a burden to him because he also got speed, he sure is fast for a tall guy, and because of that advantage he can even easily effective on defense and maybe he will eventually gain those muscles when he enters the NBA, and yeah doesn't sustain major injuries because it could be a bummer,


The Golden State Warriors can not really sign in everyone's a max contract because most players on the Warriors and getting their potential unlocked and having a great time with their performance, last season, I think this is because of their rotational usage of players, each of them will surely play or Steve Kerr is using those reserve players, and they eventually get experience in playing as Warriors and because of this they are now getting problems with their luxury tax, but I guess it will all just going to let them decides when the 2023 season ends and see if what may happen next, but I think they will surely pay Draymond Green fairly, if not with Max Contract because Green is already in his 32 years old and it is a really tough choice for the Warriors,

True, but their main point guard will still be Ball, if he can play and remain healthy. Or who knows, maybe they can play both at the same time? That could be a great treat for us. Nevertheless, as others have said, Dragic is a team player and that makes him still a good catch for a team that needed someone to bring wise move, just like what Rondo is still at this point of their career. The overall presence and game changing decision.

Yeah, Utah will have to give up Clarkson, Bev and another one, Bojan Bogdanovic OR Malik Beasley and draft picks from Lakers and the Knicks. But not sure though if the Lakers will have a championship team that can match against the Warriors.

Maybe Clarkson will not come off the bench, and be their starting five and then JTA will be their sixth man. But I do agree that if Lakers is willing to do this, they are in desperate move to get rid of Westbrook.

Dragic is the type of player that will bring in wise moves to any team. He is not there to score points or rebounds or assists etc etc, he is there to bring in his mind. Consider him like Rondo, he is not great like he used to be, but he is smart and he will one day be an amazing coach as well if he decides to be one, he has a vision that can be only rivaled by Lebron and that is why I think it is great for Bulls to get Dragic since he would not only be a player, but he would be a general that will dissect the other teams plays and tell his teammates where to be and how to defend and so forth. This matters because it allows the team to score a lot easier on the second unit.

But keeping Draymond Green means that they will have to choose between Poole and Wiggins who is also a vital asset to the team, especially since they are still young enough and they will be the 2nd generation of the team now. Klay Thompson is not in the choices for sure because the Warriors needed to keep the Splash Brothers. Green is indeed needed to the team because he is a part of the Warriors big three but they cannot keep up if even if they choose to keep the whole roster, that's why they also freed GP2 and Looney.

At this point I don't see how Mitchell goes to the Knicks.  Ainge wants both grimes as a center piece and the Knicks unprotected picks both of which the Knicks don't want to give up.  Heard they would let go of obi but they don't want to part with grimes.  With Mitchell and jalen brunson that would be one hell of a small backcourt too.  Think at this point Knicks would be better off without mitch and ride what they got.

I too hope that we see Howard playing a role on a contender again.  I doubt he's going to be back to the Lakers though.  I don't see the Nets signing him just to trade him either.  The recent reports seem to suggest that the Lakers are going to trade Westbrook for Jordan Clarkson & Pat Beverly, with Donovan Mitchell going to the Knicks.  I think Jordan Clarkson is a good player but I'm not sure if he's a starter on the Lakers.  Maybe...  Pat Beverly seems like he's about done in the league too, but this shows how desperate the Lakers are to get out from under Westbrook's contract.

No wonder the Nets gave him so many minutes on the court as they just needed someone who could replace Irving during his absence. However, it seems to me Dragic's playing time isn't the kind of thing to look at because he only played 16 games for the Nets. Honestly, I'm more than sure if Dragic had played for the Nets since the start of the season and Irving hadn't missed games, then Dragic's average playing time would have been way less than 25 minutes.

I think the last rumor I heard was Howard was wanted by the Nets and I think he'll be included in the trade package with Westbrook to get Kyrie Irving playing beside LBJ. If that will be the case, Howard's presence will be much needed in the Nets because they have almost no power in the center, Howard also proved that he is still valuable if he's given enough minutes every play.

Frankly, Vogel almost forgot about Howard's greatness when they won the last championship because after that year, we can only see Howard playing for a max 10 mins.

I think the best year for Dragic is with the Miami Heat, he was well love in the city and really did help the team with the Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo tandem. But when he was traded, the Heat was not the same anymore, (even if they get Kyle Lowry in exchange of him). And so we will love him seeing another good team in the Chicago Bulls. As you have said, the veteran can still contribute and maybe he is what the Bulls needed, specially in those games that are really close and they need someone who has the experience to win that kind of games.

I think he's not comfortable playing with the team that only focuses plays on Durant and Irving or for specific players.

If we look at the previous teams he played for, there's no one-man superstar there but mostly team plays. There's the main guy but not all the time, all plays are designed for that main guy. It means Dragic is used on ball-rotating teams which is not the system on Brooklyn Nets.

Dragic still has it. He can still contribute to a team. Chicago Bulls for me makes a good decision to sign this veteran even for a 1-year deal.

Discipline and hard work are the factors that will make him successful in this league. He needs to adjust and adopt all the challenges

that will come to his career. I see your point with lots of back-to-back games and the physicality of his body still young and with his dedication to

improve will harvest the success of his career, just hoping that he will not suffer to any major injuries while he's adopting the types of game

inside NBA.