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I dunno if Simmons can shoot but from what I saw of him he can get to the rim. The difference to me between those 2 is Ingram looks about 200lbs soaking wet. Simmons was 217 on draft night but about 250lbs during pre-season.

 

My prediction for what Simmons will be once up to full min is about 14 to 15 ppg, 8 reb & 5 ast. But probably a decent amount of turnovers as well. Rebounding & facilitating seemed to be things that come naturally to him. I think he'll struggle scoring 'efficiently' early. But at 6'10 I like his chances at at least getting a cleaner look at a shot then Henderson who has been unable to even get a shot up. Simmons could very well be 0-3 trying to close but I think he'd have gotten a shot up at least

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Ingram's lack of weight is for sure a downside, it is clear players push him around deliberately.

 

I had a look at the SA vs Clippers game and the Clippers looked very good out there. Veteran team with good D and they know what they want. The main issue i see with them is the same one we say about them every single year, which is can they stay healthy. The past answers no to that question. Their starting lineup is one of, if not the best in the NBA, with their core (Blake, CP3, Jordan, Reddick) playing together for years. Their bench is still very thin, and although they added Speights, they are still one of the weaker teams in the NBA bench wise. Crawford will need to have another 6 man of the year awards and at that age it wont be easy. If they can stay healthy though, they could compete for the title or at least push for the finals/conference finals.

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Damn, the Lakers are not that terrible at all, beat the Suns as well yesterday to go on a 3 match winning streak. I do not even remember when was the last time we did that. Also about Booker..................you are not going to get him for the offer you mentioned, the boy is a stud and still just 20y old (he closed that this week i think they said). I think he had 35 points in the game. Bledsoe is looking a shell of his former self, he even looks physically weaker than he used to 2-3 years ago.

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Damn, the Lakers are not that terrible at all, beat the Suns as well yesterday to go on a 3 match winning streak. I do not even remember when was the last time we did that. Also about Booker..................you are not going to get him for the offer you mentioned, the boy is a stud and still just 20y old (he closed that this week i think they said). I think he had 35 points in the game. Bledsoe is looking a shell of his former self, he even looks physically weaker than he used to 2-3 years ago.

 

Yeah I saw he dropped 38 and then 39 in two separate games this week so that put an end to that hope for me lol. I still don't think my trade was awful though considering it'd free up enough space for a max contract in addition to landing you some pretty good young players and also most likely they'd have two top 10 picks in the next draft. Especially because even w/ all that young talent that team doesn't appear to be going anywhere soon. I don't get to see them play all the time since they're on the west coast, so I dunno if they're all good at scoring but not a 1 of them can play defense or what their problem is exactly but they look like a 40'ish win team to me which will land you the 9th or 10th seed out west in recent history. Exactly where they tend to finish

 

 

The 76'ers looked absolutely terrible against Utah yesterday. Having Gobert at C gives the Utah guards the freedom to really put pressure on other teams guards and unfortunately that was a recipe for disaster for guys like TJ, Sergio and Stauskas. Watching those guys try to guard people is a joke as well.

 

Embiid had a rough first half going 1-5 and getting two shots blocked by Gobert but rebounded a bit in the 2nd half going 3-3 and 6-9 from FT (which isn't good for him actually) for 14 pts and 9 reb in 19 min. I think he was 4-8 from the floor and as mentioned 6-9 from the charity stripe. Okafor also had a pretty good game w/ 15 points on 7-14 shooting in 22 mins. It was also nice to see Covington finally get going. He shot 39.5% from 3 last year and I think like 38% from 3 the year before but started off shooting like 17% this season. I know he started 4-4 from 3pt in that game against Utah but not sure what he finished at.

 

 

Embiid season stats so far:

 

5G

 

107 minutes

88 points

28 of 58 (48.3%) - I'd like this to see this go up over time for a guy his size

6 of 9 (66.7%) from 3 pt

26 of 34 (76.5%) from FT line - I think he'll be somewhere around a 75-80% FT shooter

34 rebounds

22 turnovers - this is where he needs the most work imo so far

3 steals

13 blocks

 

 

I'm not sure how long it'll take for them to remove his minutes restriction or if that's something he'll have to deal w/ the whole year. If he has to deal w/ it the whole year I could potentially see someone else grabbing rookie of the year. But considering he averages almost 18 and 7 in only 22 min played on average it's going to be hard for anybody to touch him if he gets more playing time. BTW I think it's ridiculous a guy in his 3rd year is somehow still eligible for that award

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WEST:

 

1. Spurs

2. Clippers

3. Warriors

4. Blazers

5. Thunder

6. Jazz

7. Rockets

8. Grizzlies

 

 

EAST:

 

1. Cavs

2. Raptors

3. Bulls

4. Celtics

5. Hawks

6. Hornets

7. Pacers

8. Bucks

 

 

 

Damn not how I intended to do this. I wanted to make a prediction now that I've actually seen some games from everybody and see how it differed from my pre-season predictions!

 

 

Just a few of the changes I made out west....I moved the Jazz into the playoff picture, they only missed by 1 game last year and only got about 60 games from Favors and Gobert. I think if those two can stay healthy w/ the addition of George Hill and role players like Boris Diaw they should have a good chance making the playoffs out west this year. I also moved the Thunder up a spot or two and dropped the Grizzlies but I think Memphis, Phoenix, LAL and MIN will be in a real battle for that 8th seed come the end of the year. I really expected Minnesota to take a step forward this year w/ Thibs as the coach and him having a wing defender like Wiggins and a post defender like Towns, I expected their defense to be outstanding this season...they still have plenty of time to figure it out though

 

 

In the east I dropped the Pacers from 2nd to 7th. I thought the additions of Al Jefferson, Jeff Teague and Thad Young to go along w/ Paul and Ellis would make them a legit threat in the east. But it doesn't appear that team can play a lick of defense thus far. I expected the Bulls to struggle because I didn't think they had ANY perimeter shooting at all, so they've looked a bit better than I thought they'd be. The east after cleveland looks like a total crap shoot to me though

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Steph Curry went from losing his 3pt streak (he was 0-10 against the Lakers) to breaking the NBA record for most 3pts in a game (i think he was 13 from 18), that is what you can get from him.

 

In regards to the end of season positions, i have no clear picture yet because i have not seen all of them play. From the teams i have seen, the Cav's are my #1 choice to win it, i saw it that way during the pre-season. I think the Spurs are better this year, even though Duncan is gone and Parker is a shell of his former self. I think they have a pretty weak backcourt, but have general depth and experience everywhere, Popovich is still the best coach in the league as well. I also like the Clippers, i think they are very mature and their starting 5 is probably the best in the league, i think Rivers is a top 3-4 coach as well.

 

I highly doubt the GS will win it, i even doubt they will make it to the finals, they have clear weaknesses and their defense is very average. When you rely so much on shooting, things can go wrong, besides that, i think other teams have figured them out, Durrant with his isolation style was better off in a different system, in fact, if the Lakers would of signed Durrant instead of Deng (they make similar cash), then i think the Lakers would had been a top 4 type team in the west at least.

 

 

 

 

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Steph Curry went from losing his 3pt streak (he was 0-10 against the Lakers) to breaking the NBA record for most 3pts in a game (i think he was 13 from 18), that is what you can get from him.

 

In regards to the end of season positions, i have no clear picture yet because i have not seen all of them play. From the teams i have seen, the Cav's are my #1 choice to win it, i saw it that way during the pre-season. I think the Spurs are better this year, even though Duncan is gone and Parker is a shell of his former self. I think they have a pretty weak backcourt, but have general depth and experience everywhere, Popovich is still the best coach in the league as well. I also like the Clippers, i think they are very mature and their starting 5 is probably the best in the league, i think Rivers is a top 3-4 coach as well.

 

I highly doubt the GS will win it, i even doubt they will make it to the finals, they have clear weaknesses and their defense is very average. When you rely so much on shooting, things can go wrong, besides that, i think other teams have figured them out, Durrant with his isolation style was better off in a different system, in fact, if the Lakers would of signed Durrant instead of Deng (they make similar cash), then i think the Lakers would had been a top 4 type team in the west at least.

 

 

 

 

I still think if they hit their shots they're pretty unstoppable but they have to hit a lot and I'm starting to doubt that they can do that enough throughout the playoffs. Plus they don't get to the free throw line very often so I'm predicting that will be a problem down the road. The more we see this team the more their flaws show and I don't chalk it up to chemistry issues either. Cavs have become my pick as well, they can hit 3's, get to the rim, defend well, and have a size advantage on GSW. I think the Warriors will get it together and get to the Finals still but I highly doubt they get 70+ wins again.

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Terrible game for Embiid last night. Still got 25 points because he was 12-14 from the FT line but yikes. We got a win finally though lol!

 

 

My problem w/ the Warriors is the past two years I thought they played good enough defense and rebounded well enough (though it wasn't a strength) to overcome bad shooting nights. This year that team looks to me like if they're hitting they're shots they will be hard to beat by anybody. But they need to shoot well to be able to beat the upper echelon teams in the league imo. The prior two years their shooting is what really separated them and put them on that other level from other teams but they were sufficient enough at everything else that even if they weren't hot they could still be competitive. Now I don't believe that is the case, I think they will need to shoot themselves through the entire playoffs and cannot afford to go cold for an extended stretch in the later rounds or they'll get handled

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The problem with the 76ers is that you suck badly again, i mean you guys should be getting really pissed off by now. It is not simply bad, it is terrible for several years. The Lakers were basically that the past 2 years and it was depressing.

 

I agree with the Warriors, some people said their D was great, i thought it was competent in a league which mostly sucked at D, they also had some shot blocking. Their rebounding was below average, but now their overall offense carried them. This year their weaknesses got even more serious, Defense is average this year at best, rebounding they are simply poor and they have no shot blocking. They can score buckets though and they will need to do that to win this year. Do not get me wrong , i still see them as a top 3-4 team and a major contender for the title, but start of the season many people were predicting them as being the clear favorite, i do not see it that way.

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The main signing of the Lakers this year is Luke Walton. I know we had a young team and it was expected that we will improve, but the amount of improvement this year is phenomenal. We were ranked 2nd worse team in the league last year, we did not really get any significant additions, our main additions were Deng, Mosgov and Calderon, I would argue that besides Mosgov, all our additions this year we could do without. The main difference I see is we have a fighting spirit, something we totally lacked last year. A lot of our players have improved in area's you would not expect. For example, Luke Young, he was never known for his defense, well this year he learnt to defend! Lou Williams was known for his poor decision making, well this year he closes and play makes a lot of our games in the 4th quarter. He made the right decisions during this season (we started 0-3, now 6-4), by dropping MWP, Calderon and Huerta's from the rotation almost totally. Deng got fewer minutes and in their place he has rightly pushed more time for all the right players. All the younger players are improving almost game by game, Ingram is slowly taking more initiative (without pushing it), Russel is playing with confidence (although he has a lot of poor decisions with his shots still) and this team which had arguably the worse D last year is at least respectable now. We are actually pushing for a playoff spot, which even I was not expecting. I expected 35-40 wins, but at the moment it is not looking that way, it should be around 45-50.

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The problem with the 76ers is that you suck badly again, i mean you guys should be getting really pissed off by now. It is not simply bad, it is terrible for several years. The Lakers were basically that the past 2 years and it was depressing.

 

I agree with the Warriors, some people said their D was great, i thought it was competent in a league which mostly sucked at D, they also had some shot blocking. Their rebounding was below average, but now their overall offense carried them. This year their weaknesses got even more serious, Defense is average this year at best, rebounding they are simply poor and they have no shot blocking. They can score buckets though and they will need to do that to win this year. Do not get me wrong , i still see them as a top 3-4 team and a major contender for the title, but start of the season many people were predicting them as being the clear favorite, i do not see it that way.

 

 

We have a few good players our problem is we just have no roster balance. Noel is a good player, he has limitations on offense but he's a phenomenal defender & he hasn't been playing at all for us yet which has hurt. If you look at our +/- when Embiid is in the game we're almost always in the game when he's on the floor. But when his defense goes to the bench we're terrible. Having Noel on the bench would be a huge help because our guards are simply not very good so we need a good rim protector on the floor for when they inevitably get blown past. Okafor just cannot manage that. Offensively he's struggling a bit but he had no practice time or pre-season games so I'm trying to be patient that his scoring off the bench will come w/ time.

 

I think Saric is going to develop into a nice player but it almost always takes those Euro guys some time to adjust once they come over so again I am showing him some patience. It's also really hurt us that Simmons got hurt. I don't say that because I think Simmons is going to take over the league and become the new Lebron James or any of that bullshit they try to hype him up to be. What Simmons has that this team is lacking is that special kind of athleticism where he can take attention away from other players with his ability to get to the rim.

 

If you look at the guards on this team we have almost 0 athleticism. Sergio Rodriguez, TJ McConnell, Nik Stauskas, Gerald Henderson and so on. None of those guys has the ability to just blow guys off the dribble and get to the rim or go get their own points. We don't have a lot of perimeter shooting on our team which is part of the reason we made the trade for Illysova to help create floor spacing. Part of the reason for that is Bayless (who shot 40+% from 3 pt last year) hasn't played a minute for us yet either. But again it's not like he's a guy who can create shots for himself, he will be a guy who struggles until Simmons comes back and can attack the rim and force guys to leave their man to help defend when he gets past his guy. And that's a skill set nobody else on this team seems to have. So our big issue right now is the only time we get any penetration is off pick and rolls. We try to feed Embiid the ball the majority of the time he's on the court but w/ Covington (who's struggled early) and Illysova as the only deep threats on the team they're usually just able to double team him or Okafor when the ball comes inside making both of their jobs exponentially harder.

 

There are back up guards who would be huge upgrades for us at guard right now. Lou Will is a guy you mentioned who'd be an upgrade for us. Is he a great guard? No. But he has that extra gear that he can get to the rim pretty easily and he can go get his own buckets in spurts. Even a guy like Shawn Livingston who can just get to his spots on the floor and get clean shots off. Any of those guys would be an upgrade for us right now and I'm not even talking about the premiere guards in this league or anything....I'm just talking about certain skillsets they have that this team lacks. And honestly I'm not too mad yet....there wasn't a great FA class this past year and we would've had a hard time getting any of the premiere names considering the product we've been putting out on the floor lately so to think a Durant or anybody of that caliber would've had any interest in coming here no matter what kinda $$ we paid them isn't realistic. So really what would be the point in overpaying a guy like Mike Conley Jr let's say who while he'd be a huge upgrade for us is already 30'ish+ and will be on the downside of his career by the time we'd be a legit contender again. You'd just set yourself up to fail by over-reaching to compete now when it's simply not going to happen. However if we're still in this position by the start of next season I will start to get pretty annoyed. We know we have to trade Noel or Okafor. So either ship them and a package of picks out for some legitimate guards. Or ship them out for role players and make sure you draft guards this year.

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“It is true,” said Sixers coach Brett Brown. “I think when you look at the box score and just look at the plus/minus in a game that was lopsided, Joel still comes out with a plus-3. And that’s with six turnovers. It’s hard to do that in a game that was that much of a one-way fight. You’re seeing something very unique in Joel Embiid. I look forward to the day when you can play him a lot more minutes than we’re able to right now.”

 

 

Just an idea what I mean, this was in a 115-88 loss to Houston. It's like this almost every night. We lost by 6 to OKC in a game we should've won, we lost by 1 to CLE and 2 to ORL in games we should've won. We lost to Indiana in OT in a game Embiid didn't play in that we should've won. Then we beat Indiana the next game in OT when Embiid did play. I think he's only played in 7 of our 9 games so far and when he's on the court it's almost always an even game or within a few points +/- either way.

 

 

We should honestly be either 5-4 or 4-5 right now this season with Okafor and Embiid on min restrictions. With NO simmons or noel or the guy who was supposed to be your starting PG in Bayless. We just can't close games

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Okay so here is another hypothetical trade for you.....

 

 

LAL IN: C - Demarcus Cousins, C - Nerleans Noel, PG - Ty Lawson, SG - Gerald Henderson, SF - Omar Cassipi

 

 

LAL OUT: SG - Jordan Clarkson, SF - Brandon Ingram, C - Timofey Mozgov, SG - Jose Calderon, LA 2019 1st round pick (protections)

 

 

Starters:

 

PG - Russell

SG - Young

SF - Deng

PF - Randle

C - Cousins

 

Key Bench:

 

G: Williams

G: Lawson

G: Henderson

G: Huertas

F: Nance

F: Cassipi

F: Robinson

C: Noel

 

Cap Situation before: 94,254,000 (+110K over cap) Cap situation after: roughly 87 million (7 mil under cap) - After the season they would be at around 74 million on the cap and still have Williams, Young, Henderson, Russell, Randle, Cousins, Deng, Cassipi, Nance Jr. all under contract still. So they would have 28 mil in cap space and only have Noel to really re-sign.

 

 

 

 

 

PHI IN: SF - Rudy Gay, G - Jordan Clarkson, C - Kosta Koufas, SG - Calderon

 

PHI OUT: C - Nerleans Noel, C - Jahlil Okafor, SF - Robert Covington, G - Gerald Henderson, G - Sergio Rodriguez, 2017 1st round pick (LAL owned by 76ers), 2019 1st round pick (SAC owned by 76ers)

 

We'll also still have our own 1st round picks in 2017, 2018 and 2019 in addition to two 1st round picks in 2020

 

 

Starters until Simmons gets back:

 

PG - Bayless

SG - Clarkson

SF - Gay

PF - Saric

C - Embiid

 

Starters after simmons gets back

 

PG - Clarkson

SG - Gay

SF - Simmons

PF - Saric

C - Embiid

 

Key Bench:

 

G: Bayless

G: Stauskas

G: McConnell

G: Calderon

F: Thompson

F: Illysova

F: Holmes

C: Koufus

 

Cap situation before: 80,432,886 (13.7 mil under cap) Cap situation after: roughly 94 mil so right up against the cap (But w/ all the contracts expiring we'd drop to 59 mil to start next off-season the cap will be 102 mil since it goes up & we'll have to re-sign Gay and Illyasova

 

 

 

 

 

 

SAC IN: C - Timofey Mozgov, C - Jahlil Okafor, SF - Robert Covington, G/F - Brandon Ingram, PG - Sergio Rodriguez, 2017 1st round pick (LAL owned by 76ers), 2019 LAL 1st round pick, 2019 1st round pick (SAC owned by 76'ers so basically their own pick back)

 

SAC OUT: C - Demarcus Cousins, C - Kosta Koufus, SF - Omar Cassipi, SF, Rudy Gay, PG - Ty Lawson

 

 

Starters:

 

PG - Collison

SG - Afflalo

SF - Barnes

PF - Labissiere

C - Mozgov

 

Key Bench:

 

G - Rodriguez

G - Temple

G - McClemore

G - Farmar

F - Covington

F- Ingram

F - Tolliver

C - Okafor

C - Caulie-Stein

 

Cap situation before: 96,420,387 (2+ mil over the cap) Cap situation after: 90 million (6 mil under the cap) - But they'd drop to 61.5 million after the end of the season, so 41 million available and they'd have to re-sign Covington, Rodriguez, Collison and McLemore if they felt like keeping them.

 

 

They'd also have SAC 2017 1st round pick, LAL 2017 1st round pick, SAC 2018 1st round pick, SAC 2019 1st round pick, LAL 2019 1st round pick. So really they'd be giving up Cousins and Gay + a handful of role players for Ingram, Okafor and 3 first round picks + a handful of role players.

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I am pretty sure the Kings would go for that deal because basically they renew their whole team with a lot of youth. As a Laker though i would not give away Ingram (which is getting better), Clarkson (which is arguably our best player) and our first round pick to bring in basically Boogey Man and Noel as the backup center.

 

As a Laker fan, i see the Deng contract being a huge issue, it is for 4 years at around 17m, i have no idea why they signed that deal. I would be ok sending Russel and Deng to bring in Noel + Robert Covington and our pick back. I did not look at the numbers though if that is even possible. But for me that is a deal which can happen, Williams is playing good at PG for us this year, we already have 2 backups at that position so Russel wont be missed. Covington is a good backup which will allow Ingram to move to the starting linup at SF or rotate with Covington. Noel is an upgrade on Black and maybe a long term plan over Mosgov. I really did not look at Covington or even Noel that much to make a commitment, but i think that on paper that is possible. Not sure you will want to pickup Deng though. I think it should be an upgrade over Covington, Russel will give you a potential long term starting PG, you offload 1 of the centers which you do not need anyway. All in all, i think this deal will probably help us both, we get a pick back and open up more cap space, get proper depth in the middle and you solve your issue with the PG and get more experience at the SF.

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Well if you're getting a super-star back in boogie you would have to expect to give something up in return. Basically Ingram and Okafor + the 3 1st round picks would be the appeal for Sacramento. But I don't think that'd be a terrible trade for the Lakers either. You'd get a massive upgrade at center with a really nice upgrade for your back up center and defensive specialist. You keep your starting guard combo the same in Russell and Young with Deng at the 3, Randle at the 4 and Cousins at the 5. Or you could potentially move Young to the 3 and slip Lou Will in at the 2. But you get Lawson, Henderson and Cassippi to try to help cover the wing play you lose in Clarkson and Ingram off the bench (assuming your starters are still what the net says it was to start the year). Those 3 don't quite cover for Clarkson/Ingram scoring but you'd be - 5 points or so I'd bet and Cousins would more than make up for that in the starting line-up in addition to the fact you have a better C on your 2nd unit.

 

Personally one of the reasons I'm not terribly mad we're still where we're at in the rebuild process is because we've intentionally avoided making deals w/ guys like Deng in an effort to put out a more competitive product NOW because it potentially harms your future. I mean Mozgov wasn't a terrible pick-up necessarily because he's a solid player. Nothing really special about him but he's just solid. But my problem that you guys are going to face is over the next 4 years you're committing about 34 to 35 million of your cap space (94 mil this year, 102 mil next year) to Mozgov who is an okay player and Deng, who you've admitted isn't really a big part of your rotation anymore. And when that's going to come back to bite you in the ass is at the end of 2018 when all the sudden Russell is due for a max contract for a guy coming out of his rookie deal, and Julius Randle is due for a max contract for a guy coming of his rookie deal. I dunno what the new max contracts are for those kinda guys but I know it's gone up from where it was before....so you're looking at probably 20-22 mil/yr deals to each of those guys. It's going to become really hard to fit in good role players in due to those two contracts....I mean lucky for you that your guys are young enough that they'll still be around after those deals expire and you can go spend again....but I think that will delay your progress. And that's exactly why I don't think the 76'ers would be interested in Deng. If it was an expiring deal like Calderon they'd eat the 17 mil for you. But the fact he still has 3 more years after this one, they wouldn't have any interest. Even the guy they just picked up in Illyasova is a deal that's up at the end of the year or has an option attached to it maybe. So they will potentially flip him in any deal they make as a stretch 4

 

 

 

BTW I don't necessarily dislike the trade player for player but if you look at what the 76'ers have done the last several years when we take on bad contracts like the Deng contract we get compensation in return for it. We made a trade w/ Sacramento a few years back. Where they traded us Carl Landry and Jason Thompson in a salary dump (I believe to position themselves for Rondo) and basically gave us Nik Stauskas, a protected 1st round pick and the rights to swap picks in 2 other drafts in return for taking their trash and bad contracts. We've made other trades like that too, I believe Javelle McGee was one where they paid us in draft picks to take an expiring contract so they could make moves at the deadline. So I just don't see you guys dumping Deng's contract AND getting a 1st round pick out of it too.

Edited by shortfuse122829
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I feel like I'm usually pretty good at being objective and not reacting to the moment over my own team/players whom I get to see all the time. Even this year when my Eagles jumped off to a 3-0 start and our rookie QB looked awesome I was still saying we're a 7-9 to 9-7 team at best. So with that being said I will give you my opinions since I get to see them play every night on what types of players some of the guys on the 76'ers are and what they could potentially become....

 

 

Nerleans Noel:

 

Highest upside comparison: Dwight Howard

 

Reasons: So the reason I make that comparison if Noel reaches his greatest potential is because Dwight was never a guy who had the greatest offensive repertoire. He has limited moves with his back to the basket, isn't a great face-up jump shooter. But he used to be able to get you 18-20 and 12 every night and be a perennial defensive player of the year candidate. To me that is Noel's highest upside, I doubt he'll ever have the greatest offensive skill-set but he can get you some garbage baskets, he runs the floor well so can get dunks trailing in transition. He needs to put on a little muscle and ass to guard bigger centers on the block as well as Howard and rebound a bit better to become this imo because at this point he's too scrawny.

 

More likely comparison: Joakim Noah

 

Reasons: Noah never really had much of an offensive skill-set, when he averaged double doubles they were usually like 11 and 12 per game but he gave you 100% energy all the time every night and was content with what his role is and prided himself on defense. Like Noel he also didn't have the largest frame but used his quickness laterally and wiry strength to defend. In addition to that he became a pretty un-selfish passer and was one of the better passing big men in the league. Not sure if Noel will develop that last skill-set but everything else I think he already has. He's a high energy player and prides himself on being an elite defender and doesn't cry about how many touches he gets. Can also guard multiple positions

 

 

Jahlil Okafor:

 

Highest upside potential: Marc Gasol

 

Reasons: Big body not the greatest athleticism or lateral movement or vertical jump. Has an elite offensive skill-set, can play with his back to the basket, go over both shoulders, has a face up mid-range jump shot. Gasol never gained great athleticism but he became a better defender by working at it and using savvy. If Okafor can learn to do the same I'd say he could be very similar to Gasol. Maybe a little bit of a poor man's Gasol because he's not as consistent with his free-throws.

 

More likely comparison: Nikola Vucevic

 

Reasons: He's a guy who's put up some pretty decent offensive numbers in the past averaging 19 & 10 or 18 & 9 but they're kinda hollow numbers and he's easily exploitable defensively who offers little to no rim protection. Vucevic perhaps has a bit more range than Okafor but I'd say if his defense is what it's always going to be then this would be a fair comparison.

 

 

Ben Simmons:

 

Probably unrealistic upside potential: Kevin Durant

 

Reasons: If you were to tell me he's going to develop a perimeter jumper and turn into a guy who can average 40+% from deep in his career then I don't think this would be that unrealistic of a comparison. But I highly doubt he develops into that kinda player so I'm going to do a more realistic comparison.

 

 

Bust potential: Michael Carter Williams (but a slightly better version)

 

Reasons: MCW is a guy who in his career averages 14.3 ppg, 6.1 ast and almost 6 rebounds. But he only shoots 41.1% from the floor and 25% from 3 point. When MCW was in philly I remember a stat from his rookie year that he only shot 33% from the floor on attempts more than 3 feet away from the basket. So what started to happen was guys just played way off him and dared him to shoot in an attempt to stop him from getting to the rim at will. It didn't totally stop him from being able to get to the rim though. I think Simmons could potentially turn into a similar type of player....the reason that I say I think he'd be a better version however is MCW is 6'6 under 200 lbs, trying to finish in amongst the trees whereas Simmons will be 6'10 & 250lbs. I think his height and strength in addition to the fact he can play with his back to the basket and finish over both shoulders will lead to him having a better finishing rate in the paint then MCW did.

 

More likely comparision: Giannis Antetokounmpo

 

Reasons: The Greek freak has only shot 27% from 3 point in his career so doesn't really have a perimeter jumper either. But he has that same type of freak'ish athleticsm, ability to grab rebounds and run coast to coast with the ball, his ability to get to the rim when he wants and have a higher finishing % than a smaller guy like MCW leads to an overall shooting % of 48% instead of only 41%. He will operate as the primary ball-handler a lot of the time and grabs you 7 to 8 rebounds and 5 assists a night. I think that's more than likely the type of player Ben is, it wouldn't shock me if it also took Ben a couple years to grow into his own like it did Giannis.

 

 

Saric's comparison that I would use is Nikola Mirtic from the Bulls. He's a stretch 4 who has point forward type abilities. Is young but you can tell he has been a professional for a few years already. Embiid is the guy it's really hard to compare to anybody. If he stays healthy I think he could be something really special. He's shooting 50% from 3pt and 80% from the FT line. He has a back to the basket game and can finish over both shoulders, in addition to a massive body and power to bang down low with legit centers. He can face up jump shoot. But he can also put the ball on the floor and drive to the rim if you step out to defend his perimeter shot. He isn't somebody you can exploit on switches in the pick and roll defensively and he looks like he could be an above average to possibly even elite rim protector. His biggest issue is going to be can he stay healthy or can't he stay healthy.

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I think Giannis Antetokounmpo is going to be a star, he could outplay Durrant in his overall game because he is a better defender, he will likely never be as good at shooting, but his driving to the basket is probably better than Durrant due to his physical play, so if Simmons gets anywhere near that, you are in luck. I do not see Okafor as a Gasol, for one Gasol is good at FT shooting and has a better mid range game, one i doubt Okafor will never have. Okafor could be better near the basket though, i see him as one of the best post players in this very poor post play era. Gasol is average there. Gasol is also considered a good defender despite his poor numbers due to his positional play, Okafor is not that and will never become that. I guess Okafor will have similar numbers to Vucevic, i guess that is a good comparison, but i see Okafor being a more "refined" type offensively, although Vucevic is maybe a little more versatile. Noel is a poor mans version of Howard, not as strong or as dominant, but they have similar upsides, i doubt he will reach the levels Howard reached, although at this stage of his career, Howard was probably worse off than Noel is now, so he could catch up.

 

In regards to the Lakers, i think the move for Mosgov was a good one because he is a pure modern type of center, he can block shots, works hard, defends, he has a high % shot, he is not a liability from the line and he actually has a soft mid range shot as well. He is 30y old, but he should be fine for 4 years we signed him for, the past has shown he is very durable and due to him playing center, any degrading should not be a problem, he does not rely on speed. Just his hard working style makes him a decent pickup. For 16m that is not a terrible return for a starting center, he is not Elite material for sure, but with the cap going up next year, 16m will be a pretty decent investment. Personally i think you should not be paying your center the most money these days.

 

Deng on the other hand is a TERRIBLE signing, he is actually getting worse, i thought he was a bad pickup to begin with, but now i know it was. He cant shoot, his % is absymal, he cant stretch the floor (which is what we thought he could do), not much of a slasher, limited post up game, recently he cannot even shoot FT's either. People were saying he is an elite defender, i have not seen that, blocks, steals, rebounds are all average at best, he cannot lock down anyone elite either. He also has a poor injury history. Put it this way, he is our highest paid player and i would argue he is not even a top 5-6 player on this team and at 31y he will be getting worse. Some people say he has "leadership" qualities, on the court he does not show that, sure he is a veteran, but god, 17+m for veteran backstage leadership is way too much. Worse thing about this deal though is the 4 years, he is literally a parasite on the roster, leeching away valuable cap space. The Deng contract is so bad, i would be willing to give him away for nothing, or even pay someone to take on that contract because if we keep 17m on the books for 4 years the Lakers have no chance to compete for anything significant. The person responsible for signing him should be fired immediately on the spot. I am not a specialist, but even i could see this was a terrible deal.

 

Personally, i would be willing to send you Ingram + Deng for Okafor + Covington or Noel + Covington + our pick back. Cap wise it is possible because basically we will exchange positions, you will have around 93m and we will go down to 76m. That will give you a pretty strong core of players in Ingram, Embid and Simmons to build around all of which have super star potential. If the Lakers get Okafor we have an alternative offensive option or if we get Noel, we have a strong rotation center and a longer term prospect to Mosgov. We also open up a lot of cap space, the only problem is that we basically wont have a proper SF because we offload our starter + our backup, but Young can play a bit of SF, Covington can cover. You probably get the better end of this deal, but i would be willing to go for that to offload Deng.

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Okafor does have a mid-range game btw you're wrong. He faces up and hits 15 foot jumpers on guys quite often & then uses head fakes to get guys off their feet and get to the rim. He doesn't have a ton of range like Embiid does but that 12-15 foot jumper he seems to knock down pretty consistently to be honest. He shoots a couple jumpers in this video from last week. He definitely prefers to work on the block or catch the ball at 15 ft and then put the ball on the floor and attack the rim (he likes that spin move a lot). He is down at the FT line this year so far (58.8% compared to 68% last year). I actually kinda like him as our back-up C but I know some of these guys are going to get moved and assume he'll be one of them. But last nights W against miami for example....

 

Embiid: 23 min, 22 pt (7-13 FG, 7-9 FT), 5 reb and 3 blocks then you bring Okafor off the bench and he goes for 15 pts (7-13 FG, 1-3 FT) they've done that a few times this year and that's a pretty solid rotation at the 5

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K7IPLUgOWU

 

 

I agree though that Okafor ever reaching M. Gasol's level is probably unlikely. Reason I made the comparison is neither guy has great lateral movement nor the ability to jump over the sunday newspaper. Not sure how Gasol makes up for that lack of athleticism. Whether it's film study or instincts or what, I dunno enough about him when it comes to those things. So I at least hold out hope that a guy w/ similar athleticism can improve enough on that side of the ball w/ hard work to not be a total liability the way he is now. The FT shooting though I acknowledged in my post saying he'd be at best a poor man's version of Marc. Though I do think FT shooting is something that can be improved upon.

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I am not really a massive fan of M.Gasol, i still think his Defensive player of the year award was the biggest fluke in recent NBA awards, i appreciate his positioning, but how can you give a guy with average rebounding, blocking, steal numbers the best defensive player award is beyond me.

 

Anyway, do you think the 76ers would accept an offer like that? I mean:

 

Ingram + Deng for Okafor + Covington OR

Ingram + Deng for Noel + Covington + our pick back

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I think the first trade would be more likely than the 2nd. I just don't believe you'll get the 76'ers to eat that contract AND give you a 1st round pick.

We would view the first trade as Okafor + Covington for Ingram. Deng would essentially be the "cost of doing business."
If you want that pick I'd say it's more likely an Okafor + your pick for Ingram type deal. Where in this case the cost of doing business is that 1st round pick in order to get you guys to bite.
I think either of those trades would be fair. In the first you guys get 2 decent players back but unload a terrible contract & it frees up space you can add an all-star caliber player next year which probably takes you from fighting for an 8th seed to top 4 in the west. The second trade we basically trade the #3 pick two years ago for the #2 pick last year & pay you a 1st round pick since your guy probably has bigger upside. Okafor did average 17.5 & 7 last year on a team that had nothing else causing him to start drawing double teams game 2
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I think the first trade is probably better for you guys though because Okafor would be 1 helluva an offensive punch coming off the bench. & though Covington doesn't have Ingram's upside potential, he's a bigger stronger defender right now. & he shot 37'ish % from 3pt the last 2 years on a team where all you had to do was double Okafor & stay with our lone perimeter shooter & all your bases were covered. If he was on a 2nd unit with Clarkson & Lou will & Okafor? He'd probably shoot a lot of open 3's as the 4th option. Plus the 3 wing players + a stretch 4 would leave an awful lot of space for Okafor to work in the paint

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Okafor is on a long deal, 3 years with a team option for the 4th, he probably does not have the upside of Ingram, but i see him as much less of a risk, i know for certain that he will be a top offensive center for this league for several years, Ingram is still and enigma though, he has the frame, but at this point that is about it, the only other thing we know is that he has some athleticism (not ultra, but it is good) and he can shoot, but he is a player with limited confidence, not that explosive, not that fast, last year was good but not exceptional, i am willing to take the risk in exchange for an elite offensive center, you do not get those these days.

 

The main thing is we offload the Deng contract though and get a decent long range shooter on a 1m contract. Our only problem with this trade is we literally do not have a starting SF, Young is more of a SG and Covington is the only guy considered a pure SF, then again last year we had a similar situation, i think we will be fine because we have several good sized guards in Young, Clarkson, Williams.

 

I guess i would go for:

 

Mosgov, Randle, Young, Clarkson, Russell for the starting lineup

Okafor, Nance, Covington, Williams, Huertas/Calderon for the backups

 

Anyway, all this is hypothetical, i doubt our dumb idiot owners will pull something like this off because: #1 they probably think Ingram will become Durrant, which most likely wont happen and #2 They think Deng will gain the form which made him a borderline all star. Both things wont happen though, we will end up losing up the cap space, Deng will fade to obscurity by next year, Ingram will lose the trade value he has as it becomes apparent he is not going to be Durrant and for the next 2-3 years we will rely on players such as Clarkson, Russell and Randle to become super stars, none of which have that potential.

 

Do not get me wrong, I think those 3 all are very good players, i even think Ingram will become a very solid NBA starter, he could even push it to around 18-20 Pts if he can improve his confidence, strength and decision making, he will also be a pretty good wing blocker and he has good enough handles to even play PG or SG. That in itself should be a serious problem at his size, but i think that it will likely take 2-3 more years before he gets to a high level. I rather offload him now together with Deng, get the thug Center which can rotate with Mosgov and give us a threat inside (we do not have that now) and open up the space for a super star next year. I am pretty sure that a team run by Walton, with all that talent and a decent run to make it to the playoffs should be enough to land us a high end star next summer. I did not have a look at who is going to be FA, but ideally someone which can play SF will be awesome, i am not against a super star PG though, Russell will never be that and we can move him to SG.

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How do you guys use Deng? He had a resurgence last year because Bosh went down & he played as the stretch 4 for miami. He doesn't have enough left to drive past other SF's or make contested 3pt shots. But at the 4 he's almost always a mismatch. Like our two 4's are Saric & Illyasova. He'd easily blow by either off the dribble which causes them to sag off him on the perimeter & he gets much cleaner looks at 3 pt shots.

If you guys are using him at SF that would explain him dipping back to being barely serviceable
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