NBA 2012-13, discuss, fantasy, Lakers, etc.

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usc said:
You got his second ring only because the Spurs choked at the end of Game 6 (I won't get into how he needed a dream team to get his first ring).
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We can play what ifs all over that series. Lebron still has his 2nd ring.
Look how the Clippers flopped against Memphis in the playoffs this year....Griffin and Jordan can not be trusted to hit FTs in clutch time and other than CP3 there really don't have a good second scoring option in crunch time.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy lob/dunk city as much as the next guy, but it's a different game in the playoffs.  They'll probably win their division next year with around 55 wins and get bounced in the 2nd round of the playoffs again.  In the west, I still think OKC, Spurs, and Memphis are better teams (if Houston gets Dwight then the Clippers will be the 5th best team in the West)...don't forget about Golden State and Denver either. 
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You forget that the Clips beat Memphis the year before and Blake was injured this last playoff series. I disagree, Clips can be a contender for top in the West. Even division champs is more than "jack crap". With Memphis and Denver losing their coaches, they have more question marks.
As for the Lakers, unless something big happens they are on the slide down towards being a lottery draft team with Kobe getting older and older.  The Lakers will be lucky if they can make the playoffs next year with Dwight or not.  Hopefully they'll be able to pick up some free agents in 2014 & 2015 when they have more cap space. 
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We are on the same page about the Lakers. But that goes to my point, if the Clips will at least be playoff bound and the Lakers declining, isn't that a shift in the force?
 
D12 is going to Houston.

Good decision if you want to win a ring... but who knows what the Lakers are going to do in the next 2-3 years (Lebron 2014!).
 
Looks like we may have to wait until 2014 to see a contending Laker team. Both Wade and LBJ will be free agents so maybe Kobe can persuade them to come to LA (yeah right).

I do think Dwight made the best decision if he's looking to win a ring... Harden is only 23 and on the rise, Kobe is 36, injured and a bit too selfish. The Rockets have been making some bold moves the last 2 years (last year acquiring Lin and Harden, this year getting Dwight) and I don't think they are done yet. They have shooters and are young... so it looks like OKC, HOU, Spurs and Clips are the top in the West... DEN, GS and MEM are the next tier. Lakers might squeeze in at 8th.

If that's not a shift, I don't know what is.

When was the last time a superstar left the Lakers via free agency?
 
This is not your dad's NBA... to win, you need more than one superstar... as LBJ proved.

The only reason why it's talked about in terms of max contracts is because teams are looking for established superstars, not "we got lucky in the draft" ones. OKC wouldn't even be where they are if KD, Westbrook, Ibaka (and at one time Harden) didn't work out. The Spurs have Duncan, but got lucky with Parker, Ginobili and now Kwahli. Indiana wouldn't even be in the conversation if Paul George didn't fill the hole that Granger left.

A player deserves a max contract if they can carry their weight... not their team. And then there are the anomalies. There are several players who got max money and didn't  deserve it, and this was just in the last 5 years or so.

The plus from all this is that the Lakers will have more money in the 2014 free agent sweepstakes but how likely will LBJ come to LA? Part of the reason why they wanted Dwight was not just so he can carry the team but also to attract other players to come to LA.

Players can't sign contracts until Wed, so hopefully the Lakers might have more tricks up their sleeve... and longshot pull off a sign and trade with Houston (heh).
 
No Quarter said:
You can see from the way the Knicks have been run the last 10 years that just adding massive free agent contracts doesn't work to win titles if the players won't play well together.
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yes it does. the heat just won the last two titles. the knicks have an idiot owner and they go after the wrong players.
 
The problem with "drafting well" is it's a game of chance. Like I said, the Spurs (and OKC) have been lucky... and if you finish near the top every season, your draft prospects are not as good. The Spurs had to trade away George Hill to get Kawhi and he's turned out to be a good player (although missing free throws in Game 6 hurt badly).

It's hard to remember past a season but the Spurs were dominated by OKC in 2011, so a big reason why they even were in the Finals was because of that Westbrook injury. I don't see the Spurs vying for another title as long as OKC and the Clips (and now even HOU) are healthy.

I wouldn't put Grainger on my team, knee injuries are such a gamble...  Portland knows because of Oden and Roy. And while Love may want to be a Laker in 2014, don't think he won't be looking to get paid close to max.

And there was the NBA for your dad, it was dominated by the Celtics and players like Russel and Wilt... not 3 max contract players. :) (Plus he got Showtime, the Bad Boy era and the Jordan decade)
 
No Quarter said:
How many max contract guys did the Pistons have when they won the title? The Spurs for each of their title runs? Jordan's Bulls?

This is just weak... players demanding to get paid the highest allowable salary and then not wanting to be held accountable by fans since they need other stars on the team to help them win.
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the pistons was just an anomaly.  in todays wold, Scottie Pippen would be a max player, Rodman would likely have gotten a max deal for his defense/rebounding, Kukoc may have potentially gotten a max deal from someone. For the spurs, Parker is a max player, Ginobli probably could have left for max money elsewhere.
 
No Quarter said:
Ron Artest signed by Knicks:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nba/news/20130715/metta-world-peace-to-new-york-knicks/?sct=hp_t12_a3&eref=sihp
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It was funny how he was saying he would play in China or be a goalie.... just to keep teams from picking him up off of waivers so he can choose where he wants to go. Metta does have something working up there after all.
 
im in the camp that the lakers will not get an A-list free agent, they will get B-list free agent - unless Kobe retires or goes elsewhere.  The lakers should go new england patriots and just not resign him after next year. what is the point of signing him? you will get two more years of laker mediocrity instead of the start of a new dynasty.  laker management will let loyalty get in the way instead of running the team to maximize long term success.

i hate hearing how if you dont want to play with kobe you dont have a killer instinct or heart of a champion BS.  not wanting to play with an ass doesnt not mean you dont want to be a champion.  people will forget real quick that Kobe is not around when you have LBJ and Paul George running showtime.
 
If it came down to it, Lakers upper mgmt would pick a young/established star over Kobe (like they did with Kobe/Shaq), the problem is getting that guarantee.

The best choice would be LBJ (and include Wade if you need to make it work), but would LBJ really go to LA with the great situation he has in Miami. What worries me is I hear the Lakers want Melo... and that would be the worst move.
 
As I've said before, it's really difficult to build your team around draft picks, esp if your team will always be good enough to get the worst picks.

I don't want Melo to leave NY, he's a terrible team player. He will never win a ring unless he has the right teammates, which won't happen because he'll always want the ball.

As for LBJ, there would really only be two reasons to become a Laker... 1) The Laker legacy and living in LA of course and 2) Becoming the one superstar who could win rings from both the East and West. I think Shaq is the only superstar to do that in recent memory. But I do think he'll go back to Cleveland one day, that is his home.
 
Again, not as easy as it sounds. The Spurs got lucky... if you've looked at the Lakers in the last 10 years, even the bad years when they had higher picks, which of those players have panned out?

And the ones that are half-decent, leave (like Trevor Ariza, Shannon Brown etc). Goudelock had potential but where is he now?

Hard to develop talent when you have Kobe on the team.
 
I was hoping DeAndre Jordan would be an All Star this year but I think his odds are slim because there are so many good front court players in the West.

I think Kobe is sandbagging... he didn't want to play in the All Star game and his last checkup reveals he'll be out for at least 3 more weeks... fishy.

Sorry I never got our Fantasy League going... next year.
 
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