The NBA Thread.

The Lakers targeted both Kawhi and Paul George in free agency recently, only to watch both become Clippers. I am thoroughly enjoying this.

 

Beverley-George-Leonard is also a monster defensive combination. And Lou Williams on an actual contender should be fun

 

I can’t believe no one was talking about this as a possibility before it happened. It just makes so much sense, with PG’s desire to be in LA.

Curious to see how rosters get filled out at this point.

 

I’m also not sure I like the George/Leonard combination.

 

Who's the favorite now? Is it the Clippers? IMO, it is.

 

I think I take LeBron/AD over PG/Kawhi

 

Yeah but supporting cast leans heavily in favor of the clippers. We’ll see who the lakers fill out their roster with, but right now the clippers are in a much, much stronger position.

 

I can agree with this.

 

If you look at PG’s career numbers, last year in OKC was the outlier, and it’s not like his efficiency really improved all that much, if at all. I’m curious to see if he maintains or falls back to his norm. Either way, I don’t think there’s any question AD is a better #2.

I also think people are making Kawhi out to be better than he is. His first finals MVP was questionable at best, and the second one was largely impacted by the Warriors losing 2 of their top 3 players, no matter how you spin it. I’m not saying he’s a scrub by any means, but I definitely don’t think his team should be automatically favored just because he’s on it. One of my favorite storylines this season will be whether LeBron can “take back” the crown from Kawhi. I’m of the opinion that those putting him in the grave are making a mistake.

The supporting cast is no question favoring the Clippers. We will see what the Lakers can do about that, but my guess is they don’t have a solid back up plan.

 

I also think it should be telling that OKC was so willing to part with both George and, allegedly, Westbrook.

 

When the Warriors won 73, the Spurs, led by Kawhi (with LaMarcus Aldridge as his best teammate) were right behind them with 67 wins, and may have beaten them if Kawhi didn't get hurt.

This year, Philly had 4 All-Star-caliber players, and Kawhi beat them. Then, down 2-0 against the team with the best record in the league, he took on the defensive assignment of guarding the MVP in addition to the load he bore on offense, and it turned the series around.

Whether or not they would have beaten the Warriors (and remember, LeBron was 1-8 against the Durant version), Kawhi is the real deal.

 

PG requested a trade from OKC after being recruited by Kawhi. If he's leaving, I'd trade the hell out of Westbrook too and I still think they should.

 

I agree, though, that people are writing off LeBron far too quickly.

 

Vegas favors the Clippers:

https://www.si.com/nba/2019/07/06/c...4dup3T8DgBwRnfIKss-wwCnHVxVlZgAAYgsouonxy6CbY

 

Feels way too early to even do predictions. So much time left to make moves

 

I keep seeing the “he’s not an elite defender anymore” comment being thrown around. I don’t understand why people equate him not playing defense during the regular season with him not being an elite defender anymore. The man will still lock you down when it matters.

 

Oh yeah. We will likely see some big trade deadline moves during the season as well.

 

Oh yeah. Get rid of Westbrook if you can.

But let’s not forget that PG was an MVP candidate last season and everyone was convinced of how happy he was in OKC. I think the playoffs exposed his MVP caliber season as a bit of a fluke.

 

Iguodala and Korver going to the Lakers, if I had to guess.

 

And apparently the Lakers got Danny Green