2020-2021 NBA Season Thread

[Germanshepherd]

Nemanja Bjelica will fill the Olynyk role, and Harkless/Bradley/Silva never played so the Heat essentially added Oladipo for nothing. 
 

The Rockets though, trading away a generational scoring talent for what ultimately netted them Dante Exum, Rodions Kurucs, Olynyk’s bad contract and injury prone Avery Bradley is an all time bad haul

[Digby]

9 hours ago, Lana_del_Bae said:

Was about time for Orlando to blow up this roster, they were truly sitting in purgatory.

 

Also, this seems like the first time Ainge has traded for player since Monroe, wonder if he is feeling his seat finally getting warm

I don’t think adding Fournier and swapping German centers moves the needle much. Fournier is a solid pickup to a place of need on their roster, but more stops the bleeding than elevates the squad. I was hoping for more of a shooting PF type guy.
 

Seems like moves for tax machinations more than anything. Celtics punting on this season; maybe that’s the least bad option anyway. 

 

if anything is a seat-saving attempt, it’s maybe burying the evidence that he signed Teague/resigned Javonte Green. Pretty sure he’s GM for life regardless though.

[AustinFromBoston]

Ainge definitely should be on the hot seat if not now, then pretty damn soon. 

 

He turned that king's ransom he got from the Nets into fools gold. Because he was too damn stingy, though to be fair, for whatever reason players didn't want to go to Boston despite being a top contender *coughDurantcoughDaviscough*.  Also doesn't help that their best years were always blocked by Lebron. I still believe the Celtics would have won the championship in 2018 if they Beat the Cavs in Game 7. 

Not only did the :censored:ing Toronto Raptors win a championship before The Celtics have even made a Finals appearance, but now the Nets the team the :censored:ing fleeced are now ahead of them.  

 

Failing to win a championship with the assets Ainge got should be more than enough to get you fired. He hasn't even made a Final appearance. 

IDK how much should be pinned out Stevens too. 2018 & 2020 ECF were huge failures on his part too. Those were their 2 best chances to make The Finals. 

[PrimalCookie]

It's weird what a rebuilding mindset can do. Even though we lost, that game has me more excited for the future than I have been in a long time. Chuma Okeke is the real deal, the NBA's going to be hearing a lot about him in a few years.

 

Not counting whoever we'll be drafting, the starting lineup next year will probably be Fultz/Anthony/Isaac/Okeke/Birch, and I'm pretty happy with that. And who knows, maybe one of the new guys like RJ or Carter play their way into starting. I feel like this team already has more promise than both the Oladipo centered one from 2013-2015 and the Vooch centered one from 2016-2021 did.

 

I was all doom and gloom while the firesale was happening, and Vooch will always be one of my favorite Magic players ever, but in a way I feel like this was needed. I'll forever believe that this lineup could've gone places this year if they stayed healthy, but the truth is that core was never going to win a championship. May as well rip the band aid off now and stock up for the future while we still have great young players like Isaac, Fultz, and Okeke to build around.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

LaMarcus Aldridge to the Nets sure is something.

 

They're like the 2004 Lakers but twice over.

[Rockstar Matt]

All that talent only to lose to the Lakers or Clippers in the Finals. 

 

It’s strange how unlikable that team has become. They use to be my favorite East team, but now I’d root for everybody else (except the Celtics) over them. 

[AustinFromBoston]

People always hype up the Clippers, Bucks, and now the Nets. 
 

But in the end Lebron always wins. 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

36 minutes ago, AustinFromBoston said:

People always hype up the Clippers, Bucks, and now the Nets. 
 

But in the end Lebron always wins. 

 

You need talent to win a title, but you also need the right talent.

 

The 2017/18 Cavs had LeBron, Kyrie, Love, Wade, Rose, IT, Korver and more (not all at the same time, I don't think, but you get my point).

 

Kyrie, Harden and KD are legit terrifying. LMA and Blake aren't. I don't think things have really changed that much. However, the Nets have depth to get through the East that the Sixers and Bucks don't. Assuming KD gets healthy. If he isn't, it's still wide open.

 

Also remember when KD said he went east to prove himself? Lol.

[dont care]

2 hours ago, AustinFromBoston said:

People always hype up the Clippers, Bucks, and now the Nets. 
 

But in the end Lebron always wins. 

You mean like the 6 times he’s lost in the finals. We get it you don’t like him. Give it a rest.

[The Six]

And here I was thinking the Clippers looked like a hastily thrown-together team full of ring-chasers. Sheesh. All that just to get Kevin Durant his 0th championship.

[dont care]

19 minutes ago, The Six said:

And here I was thinking the Clippers looked like a hastily thrown-together team full of ring-chasers. Sheesh. All that just to get Kevin Durant his 3rd championship.

FTFY

i know you are trying to say Durant didn’t earn his championships, but honestly they wouldn’t have won the championships without him, especially since the year he went down with injury they didn’t win.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

19 minutes ago, dont care said:

FTFY

i know you are trying to say Durant didn’t earn his championships, but honestly they wouldn’t have won the championships without him, especially since the year he went down with injury they didn’t win.

 

Perhaps. But he joined a 73-win team and will and should never live that down.

[AustinFromBoston]

Yeah, like imagine of Marvin Harrison or Tony Gonzales joined the Patriots in 2008. 

Or Charles Barkley joined the Jordan Bulls. 

[Indigo]

As expected, Drummond goes to LA. We’ll see if that helps us stay afloat until LBJ and AD return.

 

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31153886/andre-drummond-plans-sign-los-angeles-lakers-agent-says

[Digby]

Heck of a buyout market this year for big men who rapidly entered career decline. 

[Lana_del_Bae]

Drummond really isn't good but Lebron has history of making trad bigs like TT, Javale, and even Big Z look much better than they really are.

 

Probably more of an impactful move than the scavengers feasting on the carcass of the Magic or the Nets grabbing up a pair of washed PFs actually.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

59 minutes ago, Lana_del_Bae said:

Drummond really isn't good but Lebron has history of making trad bigs like TT, Javale, and even Big Z look much better than they really are.

 

Probably more of an impactful move than the scavengers feasting on the carcass of the Magic or the Nets grabbing up a pair of washed PFs actually.

 

Drummond can reliably get rebounds, and he's average 13.5 per game. The Lakers definitely need that. And, unlike shooters who seem to forget how to do that when they join LeBron, rebounding isn't something that tends to fall off the same way.

 

Strikes me as a really good pickup for LA, not just because they got him but also because the Clippers, Jazz, Nuggets and Nets didn't.

 

Drummond, LeBron and Davis will be a hell of a front court.

[GDAWG]

I was watching the NBA on TNT and I noticed that even the backup crew of Dwayne Wade, Chris Webber and Candace Parker are really good, Parker especially.  

[truepg]

18 hours ago, Lana_del_Bae said:

Drummond really isn't good but Lebron has history of making trad bigs like TT, Javale, and even Big Z look much better than they really are.

 

Even Big Z? Ilgauskas was an All-Star even before LeBron came to the league, compared to TT and JaVale, who never have with or without LeBron.

[dont care]

10 minutes ago, truepg said:

 

Even Big Z? Ilgauskas was an All-Star even before LeBron came to the league, compared to TT and JaVale, who never have with or without LeBron.

But by the time Lebron got there Big Z was a couple foot surgeries in and not all star caliber without Lebron feeding him the ball