Topic: 2019 NBA Pre-Season - page 460. (Read 903520 times)

They didn't expect how lethal the line up of Denver last season so I guess they learn a lot with that. Their current roster is already a title contender since they got a lot of talents acquired this off season so for sure many Lakers fans are excited to see their hop again due to their new addition. But let see how far they can go since its up to their coach now on how they can facilitate their strong roster since they need to develop their teams confidence and chemistry to work well together.

I think they are still playing well; LeBron and Davis have good statistics during the playoffs. It's just that they fall short because they lack some players who could improve their team, particularly on the defensive side. If they can sign a big man to help Davis in the paint and consistent 3-point shooters, I believe they could become a championship team.

The good thing with the Lakers is that they already have LeBron and AD, both of whom have won championships together. So their teammates have confidence in them and trust that they can lead again. Yes, they lost to the Nuggets, which doesn't look good as they were swept. However, let's see in the coming season, and I believe they'll avenge their losses, especially when both AD and LeBron are healthy.

Yeah but the NBA is a contract cap league not like the major league baseball league.  Meaning if AD is injured the Lakers won't have any room to sign anyone else.  They are locked into Lebron and AD and both are older and on the downward trajectory of theor careers.  They will sell seats but they aren't going to win anything with old dudes sucking up all the cap room.

So the Blazers will be on the rebuilding phase after trading Lillard. With him being out, there's no all-star players left with the team, so they will build around Simons, Henderson, Sharpe, Grant, and possible with Jacquez if this trade pushes through. With this trade, I don't think that the Blazers will clinch the playoffs even though they got Harden. What Harden can give to the team is his playmaking abilities that will have an effect towards the young players.

As for the Heat, as long as they have Dame, they will be a championship contender, and will always a win for them. Having Nurkic is an additional for them because he's the starting center of the Blazers for quite some time. Draft picks are also an additional for them as well even though it's only a second round pick. The culture around the team is great, so they might develop these 2 or just use it as trade assets in the future.

As for the Sixers, it will benefit them because they'll have a rising star in Herro, and an all-star in Lavine as well. With Maxey, and Embiid, it might be a good team just by looking at the roster. The problem is who will benched between the 4 of them because Herro, and Maxey are more of a shooting guard than a Point guard just by looking on how they're playing. I might be wrong though especially if one of them will adjust.

As for the Bulls, with LaVine being traded, I guess DeRozan might be next possible next season. I might be wrong as well, but within the 4 teams, they're the one who got the worst players. I don't think that they also won with this one because they traded LaVine for an expiring contract in Harris, an undrafted player last season who is almost non-existent during the NBA Finals after playing his best playoffs against the Celtics, some players and draft picks.

Well, for me out of the 4 teams, the Bulls are the ones who lost with this, but the remaining 3 teams are the winners especially the Heat who are the clear winners "IF THIS WILL PUSH THROUGH". There's a big "WHAT IF???" on the middle of it. Right now, this is just a rumor still though I hope it happens.

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His adjustments from not playing the Center position to now playing at that position is a big factor on this one. Add also the fact that he played way better last season that it was 2 years ago, and the fact that he wasn't that injury prone last season has also a factor as to why he got an extension.

The Lakers also need an all-star player that will stay if Lebron retires. I guess it's safe to say that the Lakers are now better than last season in terms of roster with their new acquisitions. Good moves coming from Rob Pelinka. Congratulations to Davis as well, but with him being injury-prone, I might agree with you that he got overpaid, but when he's healthy, he plays like an all-star no doubt.

Anthony Davis is eligible for the maximum contract extension with that huge worth. Therefore, if the given contract is probably below, Davis might just spend the remaining 2 years on his contract and then consider leaving. What the Lakers do is secure him early despite being an injured prone.

In fairness to Anthony Davis, he's the only player I know that even an injury prone, he can unleash his monster performance right away after returning to play.

Referring to his last season performance, Davis was able to keep his average percentage after being sidelined for several games.

Yes, that is huge money that the Lakers are giving Anthony Davis, when we thought that he was in the trading block because of him missing a lot games and then non existent against their matchup with Jokic in the playoffs, he was still rewarded with this huge contract, so he is very lucky indeed.

Although some of his injuries are like freak accident, I mean going for a rebound and then landing on someone's foot. So it's a bit tricky to say how he got his injuries and as a result missing a lot of games. He needs to be consistent though, and with him back and Lebron and the rest of the Lakers, it's going to be very interesting how they will do as they are not considered the favorite this upcoming season. They are 7th as far as the odds goes. Nuggets on top as defending champion and then Boston Celtics and the Bucks.

With this contract, Anthony Davis will become the highest paid player in a season.
I hope he deserves this money.

Also, Frank Ntilikina signed with Charlotte Hornets for 1 year.

Agreed, I can't see any teams throwing big money at guys in theor 30s with injury histories.  Paul george and kawhi come to mind.  Knick fans were pleading to try to get Paul george via a trade lol.  Dude is 34 and in the last 4 years the most games he has ever played is like 50 games.  Throwing big money at guys who can't lace up is a recipe for lottery picks incoming.  186 seems crazy for sure.  Chances are he won't last on the court, injuries don't get better with age in the nba.

They might have seen an improvement on AD's condition this off season, plus he really is a great factor both offensively and defensively so I'm pretty confident he'd be worth what he's paid for. The Lakers also got hope to make a shot at the finals again after they have rebuilt their roster adding more depth and defense. If this roster works pretty well, they will for sure become a good contender against the Nuggets, I can say for the Phoenix suns too if they work well as well.

 

Yes, that's why they might be thinking of developing Herro instead, because if they let go of him, then it will be a different Miami Heat team already with only their big 3, but less supporting cast that brought them to the NBA finals last year.

So again, future picks and then taking their chances against Lillard, it's going to be a huge decision for the Miami Heat right now. And yes, they might need a third team just to be able to commensurate this trade for Lillard.

The Lakers giving Anthony Davis $186,000,000 with a three year extension seems a bit insane given how much time he has missed. He’d better start staying healthy for the amount of money they’re giving him. 62 million dollars when he only plays about 50 games in a good year seems like like overpaying. I sure hope that contract doesn’t come back to bite them.

And also on the other side even they manage to win a trade and have Lilard there's no guarantee that they may reach the finals,

All the familiar faces in the east are also building their rosters or doing their best now to create good chemistries while Heat is still in
negotiations for acquiring Lilard.

For now, we might see some updates, but the final stage still depends on how the teams that involve will agree to the
offer and how they will execute the possible trades.

For sure that will happen, the argument though is that if Boston keeps upping their pay on their two best players, what will happen to the rest of the team? How can they got another superstar or list of role players to help them out win championship under this two?

Perhaps the NBA will have to increased their salary cap as well if players are going to received and increasing pay like every 2-3 years. For teams, they need to offer good money to retained the services of this high caliber athletes.

That is just the changes currently, Tatum signed his contract earlier so he is going to get that much money soon as well. Tatum is young, he still has a long way to go, and he will make that 500+ million more soon enough when his contract is over.

Because of the inflation, I can easily say that when Tatums contract ends, he is going to sign something bigger than Jaylen Brown, to put in perspective, Kobe made 25 million a year before he retired, it's just about how much more money goes into basketball every year. I bet that they are going to have 100 million a year contracts in the future, and one day even more, it's all about time and given enough time it just keeps going higher and higher and higher all the time.

I don’t think next year is a player option for Harden. He just resigned an extension a few weeks ago, so it would be really weird if the first year of his extension was a player option…

Miami is going to end up messing up their future to get a season with Dame, but it’s their best chance at getting a chip before Butler ages any more.

It looks like the Blazers are planning to rebuild their team and become the next Rockets considering they want to get so many draft picks for Lillard. Overall this deal looks good, although I think the Heat would be making a mistake if they parted ways with both Herro and Martin.
By the way, I just now noticed that next season is a player option for Harden, which means he has the right to become an unrestricted free agent. So if he really wants to leave the 76ers, I wonder why he hasn't exercised that right yet.

Not maybe because I think Lillard will really face tough consequences because it sure looks to me that the NBA's warning was serious enough for them to make the things for real and we have the Portland itself who will give some fines as well, just like what Simmons had when he was having tantrums in the Brooklyn Nets. But in the end, it's the Portland's loss if in case they will be forced to resort in that kind of situation. So, what's left for them is to trade Lillard before the season commences before anything goes horribly wrong.

The most talked trade this summer is still on the advantage of the Miami Heat. That being said, the trade about Lillard is now composed of a 4-team trade because the Portland insists that they don't want Tyler Herro on their roster, they just wanted a 4-5 future round picks, specifically first rounders. Hence why 4 teams are now involved in it.

A New Damian Lillard 4-Team Trade Where Everybody Wins

Portland Trail Blazers Receive: James Harden's expiring contract (can be flipped later), Kyle Lowry's expiring contract, Jaime Jacquez, Nikola Jović, a 2028 first-round pick from Miami, a 2030 first-round pick from Miami and a 2030 second-round pick from Chicago

Miami Heat Receive: Damian Lillard, Jusuf Nurkić, a 2029 second-round pick from Philadelphia and a 2028 second-round pick from Chicago

Philadelphia 76ers Receive: Zach LaVine, Tyler Herro and a 2029 second-round pick from Portland

Chicago Bulls Receive: Tobias Harris' expiring contract, Caleb Martin, Keon Johnson, a 2029 first-round pick swap with the 76ers and a 2030 first-round pick from Philadelphia
Source: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10084438-a-new-damian-lillard-4-team-trade-where-everybody-wins

What do you guys think about this?

I think the fact that he warned everyone already that he will not attend any practice or whatever scrimmages is enough for other teams to just move out, and will not pursue Dame. I guess that's how powerful Dame is right now, and well he deserves it like what other players are doing because he just played his best season last year in terms of stats.

Now with regards to this one, it seems like there are only 2 options for Lillard right now. Either he will stay with the Trail Blazers, and suffer probably the same fate again that he might not clinch to the playoffs again, or he will get traded to Miami. I guess the Heat must do everything just to have this trade to push through. They've given undrafted players already that have a huge impact towards their success last season, and at the same time they have all the assets that they can give to the Blazers. Of course the Blazers don't want to lose on this trade knowing that they will give their must-be franchise player.

They will be able to acquire players that would replace Vincent. In my opinion, the Heat system is what makes them a great team, even though they lack superstars, they are still very competitive. Imagine what they achieved during the playoffs; they made history but were just unfortunate to fall short in the NBA Finals.

The Heat is still a playoff team. Acquiring Lillard will make them a championship team, so let's see how that negotiation will go as there's no news yet that the Heat has no more chance of acquiring Lillard.