Topic: 2019 NBA Pre-Season - page 2399. (Read 901816 times)

Who can blame Morris, he has been offered more money so obviously he will go to Knicks. The downside is that San Antonio has clear the way for him to join them, so they are caught off guard by the decision or Marcus. You guys should watch Skip Bayless though, he is fuming mad because he is a San Antonio Spurs fan and even blame Lebron for the sudden move.

It doesn't surprised me at all. He is really targeting LA (either Lakers or Clippers), so it's a good decision for him. The thing is that there are people who are somewhat pressuring Kawhi that's why it took me like days before finally showing his intention of moving to Clippers.

Anyone heard about the Marcus Morris case though, there are reports that he verbally agreed to join the Spurs but at the least minute he chooses New York.

https://www.poundingtherock.com/2019/7/10/20688948/the-unusual-marcus-morris-saga-presents-the-spurs-with-a-conundrum

That took me by surprise. Initial reports say he will sign for $141 M for 4 years but he signed for a 3 year $103M with player options on 2021. Maybe he turned down a max contract for future flexibility but right now, no one can really tell what Kawhi is thinking. He keeps on surprising us with his career moves.

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/kawhi-leonard-contract-clippers-2021-free-agency-2019-7

@harizen. Kahwi Leonard is more impactful as a player than what the sports media implies, I reckon. All of them talk about statistics and promote players more similar to Lebron or Stephen Curry as the face of the NBA because they get more clicks doing this.

Also, it is very strange that Kawhi accepted lesser money to join the Clippers.

What I mean here is that the Lakers will reach the playoff but they will be the first to be eliminated in the first round.

The Nets has a decent roster. They'll make it to the playoffs too even if KD won't be able to play but I don't think they'll go far/deep.

Current odds on NBA Futures @ Nitrogensports

Los Angeles Clippers @ 3.8
Los Angeles Lakers @ 4.6
Milwaukee Bucks @ 6
Golden State Warriors @ 12
Brooklyn Nets @ 23
Toronto Raptors @ 31

The result of what happened in the free agency. It's been a long time since Warriors have that odds. They are playing around to just @1 to @3 every season since 2015. Looking forward to that Los Angeles fever if they can live with the hype.

I think they will make Rondo as their starting Point or I have read some news that they will make Lebron their Point Guard.

With the Final roster of the Lakers, I can predict that they are not that strong enough to be on the top teams in the Western Conference but their chances of getting to the Playoffs are higher right now. This is just my opinion only. Most of their players have experience already in playoffs.

That would be funny if they didn't.

The last season, a lot of people thought that they would be a great team but they did not make it. With the addition of AD and Cousins, I don't know what to say. Clippers and Lakers are like automatically in the playoffs. And since we are talking about playoffs next season, what do you think about Brooklyn Nets with KD and KI there?

As far as the trading progress goes, I like how Kawhi moved and choose the Clippers. Way better than being teamed up with strong teams. Indeed, spread talents. But when Paul George too joined him... Ok.

Kawhi Leonard, when started to take over as a main gun for the Spurs, purely owned the role. Same goes when he transferred to Raptors. No problem at all executing gameplays especially in the clutch scenarios. I don't know what adjustments Leonard and George will do because they literally have the same role. Remember that George doesn't want to be a second option on a turning point situation. We've seen that in OKC several times where he literally take over the longtime role of Westbrook on that situation. But hey, Leonard is a 2-time MVP so I'm looking forward to George to make a good adjustment.

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LeBron James is the only additional (core) on the Lakers roster the last yes so yes I've expected good for them but not to the point that "they will be very good". Warriors, Rockets and most team in the West, etc. it's almost too much for the Lakers even LeBron James was there.

And then as the game goes, we can see that their young guns, even playing for several seasons, didn't manage to improve at all. Mainly, because they have no strong leader on the floor. And when LeBron came, they managed to get a pretty good record on the first phase. Just didn't maintain it till the end so Lakers didn't make some playoffs appearance again for 6 consecutive seasons. I see that it's a good idea that those young cores split up and spread their talents somewhere else.

They still have a pretty solid closing 5 in Lebron, AD,  Danny Green, Kuzma, and Avery Bradley. On the bench, they have Cousins, Rondo and McGee, which have Finals experiences. Their bench is not too deep but it is not too shallow as well. If the five can be healthy most of the season, they are a solid finals contender.

It's what I'm saying and it just happened last season that we've expected good about Lakers because Lebron was joining the team. But we know the outcome of his transfer because he's just with new teammates. Every team can be a powerhouse and strong team but the performance and on how long they can make it through the entire league is what makes sense. The trades and change of roster are very interesting but it's still just on the papers until we see them how they would connect to each other.

Yes, they could do it. As long as there is no signing of contract that is made.
Not all are verbal and that is why they are having a meeting with players. Some of them are already signing like a pre contract just so to make it safer for the team taking him.

This guys needs to practice as early as possible with the team and also they will be looking for a place to live near the dome. Pre-signing will be done and then, they will never go back to their ex-team or even the state into which it is in.

One example is KD. He had a meeting in The Hamptons New York with Green, Iguodala and more and with just an agreement KD didnt go back to Oklahoma. He just texted WB about it. Period.

Agreement or pre-signing if I am not mistaken.

There has been a moral discussion going on at reddit about the Marcus Morris situation. Spurs offered him 20 million dollars 2 year contract (10 million each year) and he said he will sign with the spurs, everything was basically done and even on roster updates it showed Morris on spurs as well, just like how all deals are done before the signature (teams even have a verbal deal before FA opens as we all know obviously) but then knicks offered Morris 1 year 15 million dollars and now Morris says he wants to play there instead.

Now, at one point people say teams do this kind of stuff all the time, remember when Derozan was sent for Kawhi after he was told he is franchise player and won't be traded or IT was traded after he played his heart out for Celtics even after his sister died, so why not a player should do it as well. At the other side it is normal for a player to want out but during the FA stage he made them waive of Bertans because he said he would come but then decided not to so now Bertans is gone for nothing, he could sign with another team but then he shouldn't say he will sign with spurs to begin with. What do you guys think?

Another thing that I really don't like about this trade is if Jimmy Butler didn't workout for the Timberwolves well what made them think that Russell Westbrook is a different guy? They have the same locker room mentality and is toxic offcourt which lead to them having a bad relationship. Look at Boogie Cousins now with his short temper and wrong attitude no serious teams are taking him anymore, he's lucky that he even have a 1 year contract with the Lakers now.

It's pretty interesting seeing the movement of the superstar, especially Durant so I'm guessing that the Warriors will not anymore be the favorites to win the NBA champion next season. I excited to be wrong and I can't wait for the NBA championship futures to be out, that's the only credible way to know which team is the favorite next season.

They are my favorite team to be the first one to go out in the playoff actually.


Meanwhile in Golden State, another veteran and a key figure in their championship runs will not be returning for next season. Shaun Livingston is being waived (source). Only three remains now.

The way I see it, the only good addition to the Lakers is AD, without AD it's still the same team that might not enter in the playoffs, but now they have AD so their chances increases, but I'm also concern on the 2nd unit, I mean they don't have a deep bench and most of its bench has no experience in the playoffs.

Players are also human so aside from inside bondings they also have some fun together, chemistry can be build up when you have night life together, with what you have said I guess AD and Lebron have a good bonds and they can bring something good inside the court, the team is now indeed have a good selections which can be call as competitive and consider or classified as Super team as well.

That's the most important because we don't know if they will have a good chemistry, usually stars played the game they used to but this time, they need to understand each other and there should only be one man that will be their team campaign to manage the game in the court.

I reckon, the game isn't just all about a single player or a superstar that can carry a team. Right now, it's hard to determine if a team is good by just having one superstar. It's still all about the team play and if they can play good as a team.

When they've a superstar on their team, this boosts their confidence and eagerness that they can outplay other teams. Lakers looks very strong now but we'll still have to conclude base on how they will end this upcoming season.