2022-23 NBA Thread

[Uncle Rico]

If you were the GM of the Lakers what would you do?  It seems to me they have very few options.  They may be the worst team in the league, consider how incredible that is?  They are paying three guys about 130M this season.  Also, if they do make the lottery NOLA gets their pick.  Is there any team that actually wants Westbrook because of his expiring contract?  Davis has three more years on his deal... is he worth rolling the dice for a semi contender?

Trade for Giannis.  Our ball expert said to peddle him years ago

[reinko]

I'd try to trade Lebron for 3 point shooters.

Not sure if this was in jest, but Lakers cannot trade him due to his contract (it forbids it)

[MuggsyB]

I'm wondering if anyone would try to get Anthony Davis?  I'm not sure he's tradeable either. 

[MU82]

Not sure if this was in jest, but Lakers cannot trade him due to his contract (it forbids it)

Yessir. If LeBron doesn't finish his contract playing in L.A., it will have been his choice. And the deal to trade him will have been one he has made.

[MuggsyB]

Kyrie with another wtf situation. Does he still believe the world is flat and dinosaurs didn't exist?

[WhiteTrash]

The Lakers have sold their future for LeBron. Maybe the strategy was sound but the execution was awful. The Lakers have done everything for LeBron, maybe more than any team ever, and now he is claiming he is "taken for granted". 

As awesome as LeBron is and as someone who does great things off the court, he keeps shooting his perception in the foot with PR fails.

The Lakers have not been run well lately, I believe 2 playoffs in the past 10 years; but they have a championship. Maybe the NBA will bail them out and force the Bucks to trade Giannis to them for a bag of used balls like they did with Pau Gasol. 

[MUBurrow]

The Lakers have sold their future for LeBron. Maybe the strategy was sound but the execution was awful. The Lakers have done everything for LeBron, maybe more than any team ever, and now he is claiming he is "taken for granted". 

As awesome as LeBron is and as someone who does great things off the court, he keeps shooting his perception in the foot with PR fails.

The Lakers have not been run well lately, I believe 2 playoffs in the past 10 years; but they have a championship. Maybe the NBA will bail them out and force the Bucks to trade Giannis to them for a bag of used balls like they did with Pau Gasol.

I agree with pretty much all of this.  The Lakers have basically agreed to let LeBron the GM take control of the franchise, and LeBron the GM's track record is awful.  Now they and LeBron are pretty much backed into a corner with no way out unless either (i) they agree to part ways to get LeBron to a better situation and someone bails out the Lakers as part of the return (seems unlikely bc LeBron with the Lakers is as much about positioning LeBron for post-basketball life as anything), or (ii) the league bails them out.  I also think an Adam Silver-led NBA is far less likely to pull some of the funny business that we saw under Stern's watch, but we will see.

[The Sultan]

The Lakers have sold their future for LeBron. Maybe the strategy was sound but the execution was awful. The Lakers have done everything for LeBron, maybe more than any team ever, and now he is claiming he is "taken for granted". 

As awesome as LeBron is and as someone who does great things off the court, he keeps shooting his perception in the foot with PR fails.

The Lakers have not been run well lately, I believe 2 playoffs in the past 10 years; but they have a championship. Maybe the NBA will bail them out and force the Bucks to trade Giannis to them for a bag of used balls like they did with Pau Gasol. 

Lol what whacky conspiracy theory are we making up now?

[Hards Alumni]

Kyrie with another wtf situation. Does he still believe the world is flat and dinosaurs didn't exist?

Yes, he's a stupid person.

[Not all scoop users are created equal apparently]

If you're Portland do you do Shaedon Sharpe and picks for three years of KD? I think you do to get that last hurrah with Dame.

[4everwarriors]

Yes, he's a stupid person.

He's not stupid. Just an arrogant, certifiable, idiot, aina?

[MuggsyB]

Has Silver said anything about Kyrie's comments? 

[Jockey]

If you're Portland do you do Shaedon Sharpe and picks for three years of KD? I think you do to get that last hurrah with Dame.

Portland would jump at it. KD and Dame would at least be championship contenders - though I personally wouldn't bet on them.

Terrible trade for the Nets, though. Sharpe is a couple years away from being a star and 1st round picks in the 20s are a dime a dozen.

[Jockey]

Irving is a self-proclaimed "free thinker".

I think he meant that he is a "thought-free thinker"?

[MuggsyB]

Irving is a self-proclaimed "free thinker".

I think he meant that he is a "thought-free thinker"?

Do Kyrie and Ye hang out together?

[CreightonWarrior]

Josh Primo did not do a great job of getting ahead of the narrative.

[Hards Alumni]

He's not stupid. Just an arrogant, certifiable, idiot, aina?

I mean, what's the difference.

[Hards Alumni]

Josh Primo did not do a great job of getting ahead of the narrative.

Victims of trauma tend to lash out and mimic the trauma they absorbed.

[MuggsyB]

I think we can begin the Nash watch.  I'd be surprised if he makes it past November. 

Good to hear that Jrue Holiday finally broke out.

[Jockey]

We need a trade to get KD and Lebron together. They are leading their teams to the NBA's worst records.

[MuggsyB]

The Nets are almost as big of a disaster as the Lakers.  And the funny thing is Kyrie has actually looked really good.  SImmons isn't simply "rusty".  He's a shell of what he used to be and he was flawed before.  Now maybe he finds his game but he's not close to a 35m a year guy.  That team plays no defense, especially protecting the paint. 

Utah has a really interesting situation.  Obviously it's early but they are 5-2 and actually have a few ballers on that roster.  If Ainge truly wants to tank he's probably going to have to get rid of a few guys. 

[MU82]

It's open season on the Jewish religion. Kyrie and Kanye are just the latest to pile on.

One of these days, Jews are gonna get pissed and blast all these famously anti-Semitic jocks, entertainers and politicians with their space laser.

[Jockey]

It's open season on the Jewish religion. Kyrie and Kanye are just the latest to pile on.

One of these days, Jews are gonna get pissed and blast all these famously anti-Semitic jocks, entertainers and politicians with their space laser.

Kyrie. Ye. Musk. T..., oh, never mind.

[MuggsyB]

It's open season on the Jewish religion. Kyrie and Kanye are just the latest to pile on.

One of these days, Jews are gonna get pissed and blast all these famously anti-Semitic jocks, entertainers and politicians with their space laser.

Where is Adam Silver?  Didn't Myers Leonard get suspended for his belittling remarks about Jews while he was playing a video game? Ye has a history of anti-semitic drivel.  I think Kyrie is confused about his overall influence.....and a lot of other things in general..  Don't worry about these guys MU82. 

[MU82]

Where is Adam Silver?  Didn't Myers Leonard get suspended for his belittling remarks about Jews while he was playing a video game? Ye has a history of anti-semitic drivel.  I think Kyrie is confused about his overall influence.....and a lot of other things in general..  Don't worry about these guys MU82.

Muggs, I'm not worried about those guys, and other individuals, per se. I'm worried that the people we're talking about are "influencers" and/or icons in their fields who are followed by millions.

Anti-Semitism never really went anywhere, but it's back with a fury in the United States. 5 years ago, Nazis took over Charlottesville and chanted, "Jews will not replace us." Things have only gotten worse since then, as many of our "leaders" have proclaimed that America is a "white Christian nation" and tolerance of others is at a multi-decade low.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/10/27/antisemitism-kanye-trump-adidas-jews/

Longtime watchdogs of antisemitism say there is nothing new about the kinds of derogatory comments about Jews that the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, former president Donald Trump, sundry far-right political candidates and others have made in recent weeks.

But what has struck some experts is how blatant the comments about Jews are at a time when incidents of harassment, vandalism and violence against them have been at their highest levels since at least the 1970s. Recent data already showed that a majority of American Jews fear violence against them.

"Empirically, something is different. The level of public animosity towards Jews is higher than it's been in recent memory," Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said in an interview.

Experts said the climate is the product of a stew of forces including a digital culture that spreads misinformation and hate and right-wing political forces focused on protecting White Christians' status. Some said current antisemitism is also aggravated by more people downplaying it as merely an interreligious issue instead of a dangerous form of racism; in the past majorities from Germany to America made clear they saw Jews as a distinct and inferior race.

To survivors of even the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history — the 2018 massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh — the most urgent worry is that the event, which left 11 dead and at least six wounded, is already fading from public consciousness, crowded out by the dozens of mass shootings that followed.

This is the NBA thread, so that's all I'll have to say here. If we want to continue this conversation, it should have its own thread.

My next post here will attempt to get back to the subject at hand.